ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606240046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
A 9-year-old Southwest Roanoke boy said police manhandled him Thursday afternoon, forcing him into a police cruiser and causing him to hit his head.
But investigators were hampered Friday as they attempted to sort out the facts, as some witnesses said they would not talk with police on advice of the Roanoke chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Perneller Chubb-Wilson, head of the SCLC chapter, said she had advised the boy's mother not to speak with investigators unless someone else was with her.
"Because I don't trust them," Chubb-Wilson said of the police. "After seeing so much on TV and all the manipulation [police] do ... things can get turned around."
Janie Saunders, the mother of Jawward Saunders, filed a complaint with the Roanoke Police Department late Thursday, saying officers approached her son for no reason. She later contacted the SCLC, which has been tracking allegations of police abuse in the Roanoke Valley.
Police Chief M. David Hooper confirmed that an abuse complaint had been filed and that an internal investigation was under way. He said police had been called to the Hurt Park housing development Thursday afternoon by the mother of a boy who claimed Jawward had been bullying him.
Janie Saunders said that is untrue. She said she and her son arrived at the housing development about 2 p.m. to have dinner with a friend. About 3 p.m., Jawward went to get a drink at the Girl Scouts meeting room. As he was making his way back to 17th Street, Jawward said, a police cruiser stopped and two men jumped out of the car. One wore a police uniform; another was in plain clothes.
"They came around there, and the big dude tried to smother me and grabbed me," Jawward said. "They started to stomp me against the door. They started throwing me against the car."
Jawward suffered a cut to his forehead during the scuffle. His mother took him to Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital, where he received two stitches. Janie Saunders said the uniformed officer identified himself as B.A. McGhee when she arrived at the scene. She said police would not identify the other man.
Hooper would not confirm that McGhee was the officer involved. He said the other man was a dispatcher on a ride-along.
At least four witnesses saw part of the incident. Angela Cuyler said she had just called Jawward to come across the street when she saw a police car screech to a halt.
The officers "grabbed him and started shoving him in the car," she said. "He was crying, and they were knocking him on the side of the door. They kept hitting his head on the door. They didn't say why."
"He hit his head on the car as they were shoving him in the car," said Lori Shannon, who lives across the street from where the incident occurred. The police "were telling him to `Calm down ... we want to talk to you.' He was crying, `Mommy. I want my mommy.'''
Shannon would not talk to an officer conducting an internal affairs investigation Friday, referring all questions to Saunders' lawyer. Saunders was not certain who would be representing her.
Hooper said he expects the internal investigation to be complete by Monday.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. Jawward Saunders, 9, says policeby CNBassaulted him for no apparent reason, leaving him with stitches
above his eye. color.