ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 29, 1996.
The name of Roanoke Police Officer G.F. Bingeman, who was involved in
the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old man during a domestic dispute Sunday
night, was misspelled in recent stories.
THE FIANCEE of a man shot and killed by police Sunday night admits he had abused her but says officers overreacted. Police say the officers followed the book when the 35-year-old confronted them with a rifle.
Edwin Plunkett and Billie Patton decided to stay together despite an embattled relationship that was documented in court records and 911 calls for help.
Police had been called three times since May to mediate domestic disputes at Plunkett's Northwest Roanoke home. In June, he was charged with intoxication and impeding a police officer after an argument with Patton.
Recently, though, things were getting better, 25-year-old Patton said.
Plunkett, 35, was staying off alcohol. He had gone for psychiatric counseling to help him through the deaths of his brother and father. And he had not hit her since last year, Patton said Monday.
"I had come back because he straightened up his life; he quit drinking," she said. "He was really trying. He was doing a fabulous job."
Until Sunday night.
Just after 6, the relationship began to unravel once again. And Patton did what she had done several times before. She called police to resolve a fight at 121 Cherryhill Circle N.W.
This time the situation exploded.
Plunkett had been drinking, Patton said. And he approached police with a loaded .270-caliber rifle. When Plunkett did not drop his gun, police fired 12 times. Plunkett never fired a shot.
His last words to police were ```I want you to leave, I want you to go away,''' Patton said.
Now, Patton says police acted improperly and lied about Sunday night's shooting.
It was "excessive force, in my opinion," she said. "He didn't deserve to be shot like that. Why couldn't they have just shot him once?''
Patton agrees with police that Plunkett was out of control.
She told officers her fiance was violent - kicking, choking and hitting her while she was calling 911. She ran to a neighbor's house after Plunkett pushed her out of his house. When police arrived, she told them he might be armed.
"We got to the front of the house. I told them to be careful, that he may or may not have his gun out. ... When Plunkett opened the door, he said, 'Here's your keys back,''' Patton recounted. "Then he threw my bag out. He didn't have a gun. The situation could have stopped. [The officers] could have left."
Instead, she said, one officer tried to arrest Plunkett and then sprayed him with Mace. Patton was standing behind officers during the confrontation. She said Plunkett reached for his gun after he was sprayed.
"I saw the rifle in the air," she said. "He had one hand at the stock and one hand at the trigger. He did not point it at police. He held it high enough where I could see it.''
However, police say Patton was visibly injured when Officers T.D. Kanode and G.F. Bigeman arrived. State law allows officers to make an arrest in a domestic dispute when they have "reasonable grounds" to think an assault has occurred, even if they didn't witness it.
Police said they did not use pepper spray to subdue Plunkett.
"Plunkett began to curse and scream at them," said a high-ranking police official who would not be quoted by name. "They had no time to spray the pepper Mace. By that time, the gun was leveled at them.''
It is unclear how many shots hit Plunkett. The medical examiner would say only that Plunkett had been shot several times and killed by a single gunshot to the head.
Police officers are trained to "shoot when confronted with deadly force," said Lt. William Althoff, who runs the Roanoke Police Academy.
Patton said police should have known Plunkett was not a threat. In previous encounters, officers always had tried to talk Plunkett out of his drunken rage, she said. "It's not fair," Patton said. "They didn't take the time to talk to me or calm [Plunkett] down."
Police said they attempted to calm Plunkett, telling him to drop his gun.
Detectives are conducting two investigations: A criminal investigation will look into the domestic dispute call, while an internal investigation will evaluate whether officers Bigeman and Kanode followed departmental policies. Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell will review the reports and determine if further action is necessary.
Bigeman and Kanode, both three-year veterans, are on administrative leave. They are expected to talk to their supervisor today about returning to work, Maj. J.L. Viar said.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. ``It's not fair.by CNB[Police] didn't take the time to talk to me or calm [Plunkett]
down," says Billie Patton in the aftermath of Sunday night's
shooting death in Northwest Roanoke. 2. (headshot) Plunkett. KEYWORDS: FATALITY