Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 18, 1990 TAG: 9003182522
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
Officer Edward Upchurch, who fired the fatal shot, now suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome, according to his attorney.
Aaron Wheeler, a local NAACP official, claims he lost his livelihood after he challenged the investigation of the shooting.
Fallout from the June 20, 1987 shooting is not over.
Upchurch's $2 million slander suit against Wheeler and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has not been heard in any court yet.
On Feb. 20, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
The U.S. Supreme Court justices without comment let stand a ruling that the suit must be tried in state rather than federal court. Upchurch's attorney, Kenneth Stolle, said late last week he planned to file the case in Virginia Beach Circuit Court within the next two weeks.
Five different investigations - three by the police department, one by the commonwealth's attorney, and one by the Federal Bureau of Investigation - cleared Upchurch of any wrongdoing.
Wheeler and the NAACP never agreed with the investigations.
The incident began with the questioning of two juveniles suspected of shoplifting.
Upchurch, former sheriff's deputy who had been on the force for 1 1/2 years, and officer Audrey Turner placed the juveniles in their squad cars and returned the children to their parents.
When one of the boys was returned to his older sister, Maxine Gilchrist, she began arguing with the officers, alleging the boy had been beaten. Police said Maxine Gilchrist attacked Turner.
During a scuffle, Upchurch twice pulled Fred Gilchrist, Maxine Gilchrist, 22-year-old brother, out of the fracas. The third time Upchurch, 25, grabbed Gilchrist, the man pushed Upchurch onto the trunk of a nearby parked car and pinned him there.
The officer grabbed for his weapon and it discharged, striking Gilchrist in the chest.
Paul Sciortino concluded the shooting was justifiable because Upchurch feared for his life.
Wheeler, then chairman of the local NAACP legal redress committee, did not believe the investigations went far enough, and blamed the city administration for the shooting in a report issued by the NAACP in August 1987.
In December 1987, Upchurch filed his suit against the NAACP and Wheeler asking for $2 million in punitive and compensatory damages.
Upchurch has declined all requests for interviews.
By March 1988, Wheeler's consulting firm was closed - a victim of what he called black-balling. National NAACP leaders rallied to support him, honoring him with a special award.
In February when the Supreme Court ruled on the NAACP challenge to move Upchurch's lawsuit to federal court, the officer again was in the news.
According to police, Upchurch, carrying a pistol, entered the apartment of his former girlfriend. Police said the pistol was not loaded. Upchurch is currently suspended from the force and an investigation of that incident is still under way, according to Louis Thurston, a police spokesman.
by CNB