THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020368
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
The coroner called it a suicide, but the family of the victim claimed it was a lynching. And some people even alleged that Hampton police officers hanged the young black man and then engaged in a cover-up.
Hovering over this poisonous controversy was the divisive O.J. Simpson verdict, and the fear in part of the black community that somehow whites had taken revenge against an innocent African American.
On Wednesday, Police Chief Pat Minetti called an unprecedented public meeting to discuss the Oct. 4 death of 20-year-old Antwan Sedgwick. Minetti wanted to set the record straight.
``We've got to heal this thing,'' Minetti told a packed conference room at police headquarters. ``The only way I know to do it is to be open and honest like I have been for 41 years. . . . I know one thing, for sure, these police officers had nothing to do with it.''
Minetti blamed the controversy partly on the O.J. Simpson trial - especially the infamous taped testimony of a retired Los Angeles detective, Mark Fuhrman.
Minetti said Fuhrman's racism undercut confidence in police forces across the country, causing citizens - especially black citizens - to doubt the motives and honesty of even the most trustworthy police officers.
The problem was especially troubling in Hampton, Minetti said, because Sedgwick's body was found shortly after the Simpson verdict.
``But every police department in the United States is going to go through this,'' Minetti said. ``This guy Fuhrman has caused this to happen all across the country.''
The Sedgwick case began shortly after 4 a.m. Oct. 4 when a K-9 officer exercising his dog discovered Sedgwick's body dangling from an exercise bar near the Hampton Coliseum. Sedgwick's belt was around his neck. It was connected to the bar, 8 feet above the ground, with two simple knots.
According to Hampton investigators, the scene was immediately taped off, and the case - like all others involving a body - was treated as if the death may have involved foul play.
``It was handled absolutely the way all crime scenes are handled,'' Minetti said. ``It was handled like a homicide.''
Only Sedgwick's footprints were found at the scene, police said. And the body had no other signs of trauma that could have been caused by a struggle. Later that morning, police reported to the Sedgwick family that Antwan had probably killed himself but that a final decision would have to wait for autopsy and toxicology reports.
Police said Sedgwick's friends reported that he had been depressed and had been distressed by family problems.
But almost immediately, members of the black community began to question the police investigation. Rumors began circulating that mysterious facts about the case were being covered up.
There were rumors that Sedgwick's body showed signs of struggle, that his face had been beaten, that his hands were bound behind him, and that the belt knot was a complicated one that only an expert could have tied.
A rumor began that Sedgwick had been followed to the Coliseum by two Hampton police officers the night of his death.
Police tried Wednesday to clear up the rumors.
At the crime scene, ``there were no other indications of other fingerprints or that anyone else had been involved,'' said Capt. Bob Bennink.
Leah Bush, assistant chief medical examiner in Norfolk, told Sedgwick's family the same thing.
``I think that everyone would be interested to know that I found no evidence of injury,'' Bush said. ``I found that the ligature mark on the body was consistent with a hanging. And there was no evidence . . . to suggest that anyone else had strangled him first and then placed him there. There were no injuries to the body on the hand to suggest a struggle, and I found no evidence of foul play.''
About a dozen members of Sedgwick's family attended the meeting Wednesday. They declined to talk to reporters.
The family heard a report from David A. Barron, the state toxicology expert, but declined to have it released to the public.
Capt. Tom Townsend, chief of internal affairs, rebutted several other perceptions. Townsend said that Sedgwick's hands were not bound and that the police officers who were said to have been following Sedgwick were not even in the area on the night of his death.
Minetti said the stories began with several high school students who have since recanted everything, or whose stories fell apart under further questioning. He also hinted that the stories may have been started by drug dealers in the Pine Chapel area of the city, where Sedgwick lived with his family. The accused officers had been particularly effective in ridding the area of drugs, he said.
``This just shows how effective they have been,'' Minetti said.
That wasn't enough for the Rev. Marcellus Harris and several other Peninsula civil rights activists.
Harris said he still believes that the Hampton police may have tried to cover up Sedgwick's murder because it occurred immediately after the Simpson verdict and reporting it would cause rioting within the city's black community.
Sedgwick's family also continues to have questions about the investigation, Harris said.
A week ago, Harris and his followers demonstrated at a City Council meeting and organized a candlelight vigil demanding an independent investigation of Sedgwick's death.
``There are still some questions,'' Harris said after Minetti's meeting. ``There is still some concern that this young man could not possibly have killed himself.''
Harris believes the only way to resolve the issue is to have the city pay for an independent investigation.
But Minetti said it is not his place to call for another investigation by an independent agent, and he expressed complete confidence in the work his department had done. But he also promised to never become callous to the concerns of a grieving family.
``We are here today because the Police Department is being compassionate,'' Minetti said. ``The thing is, I can't change the evidence we have. But I will talk to Mr. Sedgwick seven days a week about it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Police chief Pat Minetti
KEYWORDS: SUICIDE HAMPTON POLICE DEPARTMENT by CNB