Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993 TAG: 9306050048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Eric Scott Lee, 20, died of asphyxiation the morning of May 10 during a struggle with police who tried to arrest him. Police were responding to a call from a woman in Southeast Roanoke who said Lee assaulted her.
Officer J.M. Donaldson grabbed Lee in a choke hold in an effort to stop him from choking another officer, S.F. O'Neill, authorities said.
After reviewing the actions of Donaldson, O'Neill and the third officer involved in the scuffle, Sgt. R.L. Hague, Caldwell found they showed "no gross, reckless disregard for the life and safety of others."
At a news conference, Caldwell noted police did not use firearms or nightsticks against Lee, "but simply tried to wrestle him down for the arrest - a situation which occurs literally hundreds of times during the year without death or serious injury."
The choke hold killed Lee in seconds by blocking air to his lungs, blood to his brain, and slowing his heartbeat due to pressure on nerves in his throat.
A medical examiner told Caldwell that "normally this combination of events would at most result in a brief loss of consciousness but no permanent injury."
The prosecutor said Lee's death was a "freak accident."
Lee's blood-alcohol level was .14 percent at the time, but the medical examiner could not say if that contributed to his death, Caldwell said.
Roanoke police do not train officers to use choke holds. Such holds are not forbidden, either.
"The reality of the situation is - as anybody who has been in a fight knows - you do what you have to do to get the edge," Caldwell said.
"I don't feel like I'm in a position, and I don't think you could find 12 citizens to agree, that they would substitute their judgment with that of a police officer trying to come to the assistance of his partner," Caldwell continued.
He also said, "I don't think it's reasonable to expect a police officer to stand by and watch his partner being choked and to say: `It's OK for him to be choked, but I can't do the same thing to get [the attacker] off of him.' "
Police are instructed to use guns only in potentially life-threatening situations; Mace was not used in Lee's arrest because of the close confines of the house.
Police Chief M. David Hooper said Friday that an internal review of the incident found "no basis for changing our training or procedures."
No disciplinary action will be taken against the officers, who have returned to their normal duties, Hooper said.
Since Lee's death, two of the officers involved - Hague and Donaldson - have been charged with assaulting Paul Holt, a transvestite who frequents Salem Avenue and often confronts police.
The status of the two officers will not change pending the disposition of that complaint, which Hooper has described as "not a critical incident."
At the news conference, Caldwell was asked why he did not let a grand jury decide whether the officers should be charged, especially given his close working relationship with the police department.
"My position is that I am elected by the voters to exercise my judgment. . . . I'm not the type of person to say `let's run it through the grand jury so it will take the heat off of me,' " Caldwell said.
Still, Caldwell said there is nothing to stop Lee's relatives or any other interested party from seeking a grand jury indictment on their own.
Caldwell also said his finding was limited to criminal liability, and it does not preclude Lee's family from taking civil action.
If a lawsuit is filed, there may be some confusion over who is the administrator of Lee's estate.
Shirley Hogan, who has a 9-month-old son by Lee, was qualified last month as administrator of his estate, court records show. But in a petition filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Lee's wife, Terri Lee, claimed that Hogan gave false information and that she should be appointed administrator.
Lee's relatives could not be reached for comment Friday.
All the witnesses interviewed gave essentially the same account of the situation:
After receiving a 911 call at about 6:50 a.m., police were called to a home on 9th Street Southeast, where Lee and two women had spent a disruptive night.
The caller, Rhonda Caldwell, said she had been assaulted by Lee in the house minutes earlier. She told dispatchers that Lee's girlfriend, Kim Gunter, was trapped in the house with him.
"There is no dispute that when police arrived and attempted to place Mr. Lee under arrest . . . that a fight broke out in the apartment," Caldwell said.
O'Neill, who was being choked by Lee, was beginning to lose consciousness when Donaldson grabbed Lee in a choke hold of his own.
Lee went limp and collapsed on the floor as the officers placed him in handcuffs.
It was only after Lee was moved from the dimly lit room to a police vehicle waiting outdoors that officers noticed he had turned blue, Caldwell said.
CPR was performed, but Lee was pronounced dead a short time later. Caldwell estimated that six minutes passed from the time Lee was subdued to when police officers noticed his condition.
Police had earlier estimated that about four minutes had passed.
by CNB