Saturday, October 23, 1999
Rallies follow police lawsuit
Columbus barber won't settle with city
BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Barry Edney is still angry about his arrest by police in 1992, so angry he refuses to settle his federal lawsuit against the city.
A day after the U.S. Justice Department sued city police, alleging a pattern of civil rights violations, Mr. Edney and about 20 other anti-police protesters rallied outside the Statehouse.
“It's a victory for us,” Mr. Edney said of the federal lawsuit. “A lot of citizens think police don't do these things. They see them in white shirts with badges on them and they think of them like angels.”
In his suit, Mr. Edney, 43, a barber on the city's east side, charges false arrest and imprisonment. He says officers slammed him against a wall in December 1992 after he arrived at police headquarters to pick up a friend.
Rallies were scheduled around the country Friday, organized by the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. The Columbus rally was scheduled before Thursday's lawsuit was filed.
“Our goal is to create a visible nationwide movement of protest to what we see as a nationwide epidemic of police brutality,” said Carl Dix, a New York City-based spokesman for the October 22 Coalition.
Rallies also were planned in Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Minneapolis and several other cities.
Mr. Edney said he was pleased with the Justice Department's suit because it puts pressure on the local and national offices of the Fraternal Order of Police. Without such pressure, it will be harder to bring attention to problems in other departments, he said.
The federal lawsuit came the day after the local FOP rejected an offer to settle the case. The city and Justice Department reached a tentative settlement in August, but union approval was necessary because the agreement would change practices covered by a labor contract.
The city denies any pattern of abuse and plans to fight the lawsuit. The local FOP says it is willing to talk about a settlement but the proposed agreement gave up too much control to the federal government.
One woman who settled a police brutality lawsuit with Columbus said she was sad about the Justice De partment's decision to go to court.
Edna Gray settled her suit for $33,750 after she says she was grabbed, choked and thrown down while watching police interrogate her husband in December 1995.
Ms. Gray said Friday that she hopes the Justice Department case will come to a speedy conclusion.
“I just wish people would acknowledge they were wrong and we could grow from this,” said Ms. Gray, who runs a day-care center on the city's north side.
Ms. Gray said her case was one of 10 that the Justice Department focused on its investigation. A message seeking confirmation was left with the Justice Department. The city attorney's office said it didn't have that information, and the lawsuit did not mention specific cases.
The president of the group Police Officers for Equal Rights was delight ed with Thursday's lawsuit. The organization of city officers, sheriff's deputies and county corrections officers formed 20 years ago to protest alleged racial discrimination in the police department.
“I would like to see a trial,” said James Moss, 50, who retired as a Columbus police sergeant in 1994. “I'm sick and tired of police officers saying they haven't done anything wrong, that it's only a handful. We want the right to get on the stand and testify — that would bring out truth.”
However, the majority of police officers agree with the FOP decision not to settle, mounted patrol officer Pam Robinson said Friday afternoon.
“The federal government has no business running our police department,” said Officer Robinson, 47, a 15-year department veteran. “Everybody I've talked to is in agreement in fighting the case.”
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