                                ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996                  TAG: 9606240101
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below

WILD SKATE JAM SENDS ACCUSATIONS SPINNING

IT WAS A DIFFERENT CROWD that night, the owner of the skating rink says. And he had a bad feeling ...

Diana Tinsley remembers one thing clearly about the night of June 13.

As she pulled into the parking lot of the Star City Roller Skating Center to drop off her 15-year-old son, Pierre, she saw a group of seven police officers. And she remembers the K-9 vehicle parked nearby.

The atmosphere was different from the other times she had brought her son to the skate jams.

"When I saw that many police, I was not sure as to why they were there to begin with," Tinsley said. "I had not seen that many there before."

School had just ended, and more than 600 people had showed up to party at the skate center on Hershberger Road in Roanoke County. Some estimated that the predominantly black crowd ranged in age from young children to twentysomethings.

"It was cool mode at first," said 16-year-old Rodney Morris. "There was a little tension going around, because people had earlier arguments on the street ... over `he-said, she-said' stuff."

The lights went up twice during the four-hour party - an attempt to calm the gathering and to quell disorder.

By the time police shut down the party at 1:30 a.m., officers had pepper-sprayed two fighters, the police dog had snapped at and bitten one of the teen-age party goers, and one Roanoke County officer had been injured by a flying bottle.

Now, Roanoke County police are investigating two complaints of police abuse against teen-agers. And some in the crowd say the presence of officers and a police dog incited the disturbance. Police overreacted because the crowd was black, they say.

"I feel it's a racial incident," said Bertha Lawson, whose grandson was arrested for arguing with a police officer. "Why do you come to a teen-agers' gathering expecting them to act up? Because it's a black thing? I wonder, do they go to white gatherings and bring a dog?''

Police dispute any racial charges. Three other similar skate jams with predominantly black crowds have taken place with no disorder, they say. And off-duty officers worked all of them.

Four off-duty officers were on the premises June 13 because that's what management requested, police say. The K-9 unit was not requested; it volunteered for the off-duty assignment.

Police say they responded to the crowd with force because the crowd was belligerent - at times hurling glass bottles and rocks at police and the K-9 unit.

"Numerous fights continued to break out as the rock-and bottle-throwing continued," said Lt. Gary Roche. "There were groups of people in the crowd attempting to separate officers from each other." |n n|

Raymond Setchel says he knows how to read a crowd.

As the owner of the Star City Roller Skating Center for 25 years, he says he has seen it all. He has few rules, but the ones he has are non-negotiable. No drinking. No drugs. Respect for each other and authority.

He had rented his skate center to All Out Productions Inc. without trouble on three previous occasions. But on the night of June 13, he says, something was amiss. He watched as the crowd gathered. He says he smelled pot on some of the teen-agers. And he saw the fights.

"It was just a different crowd" that night, he said. "I got a bad feeling. I even hired a fifth off-duty" Roanoke County officer for security.

Pierre Tinsley got to the party about 11:10 p.m. People were milling about, he said. About an hour after he arrived, a fight broke out. His friend Rodney Morris witnessed it. Two guys were fighting near the concession stand, and Roanoke County Officer John Hoover brought in his Rottweiler, Thor.

"People began screaming and scattering and making a lane for the dog," Morris said. "The officer was telling everybody to 'Move back. Move back.' The dog was snapping and barking and going crazy. He was just going off."

Hoover, Thor and a second officer broke up the fight and escorted the two men outside. When another fight broke out about 1:30 a.m., Hoover brought in Thor again, and everybody scattered, Morris said.

The police acted "like they were scared, trying to control the crowd with the dog or [pepper spray]," Morris said. "Every time something went on, they had to bring the dog out. It was always the dog. They didn't say anything to us."

But Scott Setchel, the owner's son who manages the rink, characterizes the gathering differently. When Thor came out, he said, people began jumping on the stools, running past the dog and barking at the animal.

Shortly after the second fight, police shut down the skate jam. As the crowd moved to the parking lot, the tense atmosphere erupted into a near riot, eyewitnesses and police said.

"Police were walking around with the dog," said Clifford Ramey, vice president of All Out Productions in Roanoke. "Kids were standing around waiting with no rides. ... They said they'd be arrested for trespassing or whatever. They weren't trying to get nasty with police. But you know there's going to be some kind of riffing going on if police said they have to leave and they can't go nowhere."

Soon, Morris began fighting with another teen-ager, Sean Williams. Police sprayed both with pepper spray to break up the scuffle, then arrested them.

Nearby, Pierre Tinsley was moving about the crowd. He said he felt something snap at his arm and later looked down to see blood. The police dog had bitten him. When he went to tell an officer, he said, the officer laughed, told him to place his arm behind his back and arrested him. Tinsley has since been charged with impeding a police officer and trespassing.

Police say Tinsley was part of a small group of people walking toward another fight, despite having been cautioned to stay back. As he moved forward, he was bitten, police said.

It was nearly 2 a.m. Hundreds of people packed the parking lot. At least 20 additional officers from Roanoke County, Roanoke and the Virginia State Police began to arrive. According to police accounts, the crowd began throwing bottles and rocks at the officers. Hoover was cut on the arm by a glass bottle that had been thrown at Thor.

In the end, county police arrested two adults and three juveniles. They say additional charges are pending. In the following days, Morris' mother, Karen Poindexter, and Pierre Tinsley's mother, Diana Tinsley, each filed complaints with the department, claiming that officers used excessive force in curtailing the crowd.

"To me ... if they shut it down, had them call their rides and said lights out, party's over, the rest wouldn't even have existed," Poindexter said. "That form of force used was totally uncalled for."

Police say the crowd was rowdy and would not heed warnings that the party would end if tempers didn't settle. They say Hoover and his dog acted with restraint. Both have been with the department for three years.

"The most telling of all is that building had a minimum of 600 people," Roche said. "They had fights going on. They walked the dog through to the fights, and that dog didn't bite anyone [inside]. And they were throwing things at him."

Roanoke County police do not have a policy on handlers' bringing their dogs with them on an off-duty assignment. Part of the internal investigation will review whether a policy is necessary, Roche said.

Thor was used to ensure officer safety, Roche said. The K-9 unit also has been used with predominantly white groups. Roche cited a situation in January when police were called to an out-of-control rave on Williamson Road Northwest. There, a K-9 unit buffered an angry group from police, he said.

Rodney Morris sees the party as a failure on everybody's part. While some of the people got out of hand, so did the police, he contends.

"If another situation comes up like this, maybe it can be treated differently," Morris said. "Try some other way to contain the crowd of people. And if they have parties, then the crowd at the party needs to learn how to act."

|By DIANE STRUZZI| |STAFF WRITER|