Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990 TAG: 9006150734
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK and RON BROWN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I think it's pretty clear" that the attacks are racially motivated, Police Chief M. David Hooper said. "There have been no cars rocked or bottled where the driver was black."
More than a dozen passing cars have been pelted with rocks and bottles on the 500 block of 11th Street, where crowds of blacks often congregate late at night, police said.
And in the most serious incident so far, two white men who walked through the area Sunday night were beaten with a baseball bat and fists by men and women in a crowd of about 60 late-night revelers.
After police arrived and the crowd dispersed, Larry Wayne Ballard, 29, of Old Mountain Road Northeast, was found lying unconscious on a sidewalk at Melrose Avenue and 11th Street.
His companion, Darin Edward Gauldin, 29, of Goff Road Northeast, told police that the two were walking home from a Salem Avenue nightspot when they were confronted by a crowd on 11th Street.
Ballard was listed in very serious condition Monday at Roanoke Memorial Hospital; Gauldin's condition was stable.
Crowds of more than 100 - which apparently originate from two 11th Street nightclubs and often spill out onto the streets - seem to be waiting for whites to drive past before pelting them with bottles, police said.
Although race appears to be a factor, Hooper said he cannot fully explain the motives behind the bottle-throwing.
"It looks like it's just for entertainment," he said.
The crowds, made up largely of teen-agers who have been drinking and possibly smoking crack, are sometimes encouraged by spectators to throw bottles, authorities said.
All of the people who have reported that their cars were hit with bottles have told police that they did nothing to provoke the attacks.
"I was just going down the street like I've done a million times before," said George Gills, who works nearby at Roanoke Electric Steel. Gills was with a group in two cars that was pelted with rocks and bottles last weekend.
"It was totally unprovoked," he said. "All of a sudden the sky just filled with bottles."
Gills said he could not tell if he was singled out for the attack solely because he is white. "I don't know if it was so much racial as it is they're just hitting anything that comes along," he said.
"I'd never seen anything like it," he said. "We were scared to death."
Police said many of the victims have been passing through Northwest Roanoke and unknowingly wound up on 11th Street because of a traffic pattern that prohibits left turns from Orange Avenue south onto 10th Street.
"I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to run down there in the late hours of the night," Hooper said.
In response to the reports of bottle-throwing, a group of police officers moved in early Saturday to break up the crowd.
Part of the problem was that the revelers were blocking traffic, a police spokesman said. Although most of the crowd quickly dispersed when police arrived, four people who refused to leave were charged with unlawful assembly.
Residents in the area of 11th Street say it has not always been this way in their neighborhood. They blame the problem on troublemakers who come from other parts of town.
"The cars have to run through here real fast at night," said a 17-year-old woman who asked that she not be named. "And you can't go out on your porch at night because of the shooting."
Citizens say a big part of the problem is crack, a highly potent form of cocaine that has been easily available for sale in area.
Jeff Rudd, an assistant commonwealth's attorney who prosecutes the city's drug cases, said large crowds are often attracted to drug dealers - and the dealers to the crowds. "If you've got that many people standing in the street, the dealers can blend in more easily," Rudd said.
Although drugs and alcohol have been involved in the bottle-throwing incidents, authorities said that peer pressure and a crowd mentality may also be motivating factors.
"If you've got a group of people together, they're going to do things as a group that they would never do as individuals," Rudd said.
Also on Sunday night in the 11th Street area, two young men were shot and wounded by a man who opened fire in a crowded nightclub. The incident did not appear to be racially motivated.
The man had been ordered out of Mr. Gee's, on the the 600 block of 11th Street. He returned a short time later with a revolver. Patrons dived for cover as the man drew the gun from his pocket and began to fire, police said.
Anthony Wilson, 20, of New York, was shot in the buttocks. David Grant, 19, of Grayson Avenue Northwest, was struck in the left arm. Both were in satisfactory condition Monday at Community Hospital.
The gunman fled in a large black car, witnesses told police. A short time later, police stopped the car on Salem Avenue Southwest and arrested the occupant. Darryl Keith Mann of Ferncliff Avenue Northwest was charged with two counts of malicious wounding and use of a firearm, police said.
Authorities say one apparent source of the problem with crowds is Tasty's, a Caribbean restaurant at Moorman Road and 11th Street, where many of the revelers gather.
Anthony Martone, assistant manager of a rental business on the street, said there is evidence almost every weekend of the disruptive gatherings. "After a Saturday night, you can't drive anywhere. There's glass bottles broken everywhere," Martone said.
Jack Powell, assistant special agent in charge of the regulatory division of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the agency is concerned about possible violations at the nightclub.
The owner of Tasty's, Trevor Bradford, 39, faces an ABC hearing on whether his license should be suspended or revoked. Robert L. Garian, deputy board member for regulation, said Bradford faces administrative charges of allowing disorderly conduct and allowing intoxicated persons to loiter in the establishment. A hearing date has not been set.
Bradford and his wife, Ericka, were convicted in April on charges of assaulting law enforcement officers.
Alice Ratliff, an ABC assistant special agent in charge, said she, a Roanoke patrol officer and a vice officer were assaulted by the Bradfords after authorities started checking customers' identifications at Tasty's.
The Bradfords were ordered to pay a $100 fine and given a 10-day suspended sentence, Ratliff said. Trevor Bradford has also been charged with malicious wounding in a shooting that stemmed from a dispute at his business. He could not be reached for comment.
As part of an organized crackdown by police, dozens of patrol officers went into the area early Saturday to restore order.
Traffic was barred from a portion of 11th Street just around the corner from Tasty's, which has been the most frequent site of problems. Police cars were stationed at almost every corner in surrounding blocks as authorities attempted to disperse the crowd.
On Friday and Saturday nights, police had a platoon of 20 or 30 officers on standby, ready to respond to problems in the area. But even with the increased police presence, at least one car was struck by a bottle hurled by a youth standing just a few feet away.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on June 13, 1990\ Because of a reporter's error, the business of Mr. Gee's was inaccurately portrayed in a story in Tuesday's editions. The establishment is a grocery store.
by CNB