THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 30, 1995 TAG: 9511300520
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Had it been a normal work week, Johnnie Barnes would have been practicing with the Pittsburgh Steelers the afternoon of Nov. 15 instead of driving to a mall with his girlfriend. But because the Steelers had just played a Monday night game, that Wednesday became an off-day - and Barnes wound up getting the scare of his life.
Barnes, a star at Suffolk's John F. Kennedy High School and Hampton University, became involved in an incident that has resulted in his filing a complaint against the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety. He also is contemplating a lawsuit.
Barnes' complaint came barely more than a month after the Oct. 12 death of Jonny Gammage, a cousin of the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ray Seals, allegedly at the hands Pittsburgh area police. Two officers this week were charged with murder and a third with involuntary manslaughter.
According to Barnes, he was ordered from his car at gunpoint and made to kneel on the side of the road for five minutes until it was determined he was not who police thought he was - a man who had committed a recent sexual assault and abduction in Northern Virginia.
``The conduct of this officer was shocking and wholly uncalled for,'' Barnes said in a letter filed with the city's Department of Public Safety and dated Nov. 21.
Pittsburgh police chief Earl Buford admits that the officer drew his gun on Barnes and has issued an apology. However, a preliminary investigation by the police bureau last week concluded that, as far as the department is concerned, the officer did nothing wrong.
The officer, whose identity has not been made public, told investigators that he became aware of the sexual assault suspect in roll call the morning of Nov. 15, and that the suspect was armed and driving the victim's 1988 blue Toyota 4-Runner with Colorado plates. The officer said he pulled Barnes over because he fit the race, height and weight descriptions of the suspect.
But Barnes and his attorneys contend that Barnes' Toyota 4-Runner is far different - a silver 1995 model with Virginia plates - than what police were looking for.
``I do understand citizens and especially Mr. Barnes being concerned about being stopped by police officers and because of that I apologize for any inconvenience,'' Buford told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. ``But also I would hope citizens understand police officers also have a right to stop possible suspects to investigate.''
The incident remains under investigation by Pittsburgh's Office of Professional Standards. Tim Stevens, president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the NAACP, has called for Mayor Tom Murphy, Deputy Mayor and acting public-safety director Sal Sirabella and Buford to ``thoroughly investigate'' Barnes' accusations.
On advice from his attorneys, Joel S. Sansone of Pittsburgh and Ron Del Duca of Virginia Beach, Barnes is not conducting interviews regarding the incident. But he did give his version of the incident in his letter of complaint.
According to Barnes, he was about to pull into the parking lot of a Pittsburgh-area mall when he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw flashing emergency lights. After he pulled over, Barnes said, the officer used his intercom to demand, ``Driver, get out of your car now.'' Barnes said he complied, but protested when the officer also demanded that he raise his hands over his head.
``I demanded to know what was going on,'' Barnes wrote. ``As I got out of the truck, following the policeman's orders, I looked down at my chest and saw a red laser beam (i.e., a laser gunsight) on my shirt, (then) aimed right between my eyes.
``I tried to explain to the officer that I am a Pittsburgh Steeler, and that I hadn't done anything wrong, but the officer would not listen. He only screamed at me and ordered me to walk backward, with my hands up, toward him. He had been pointing his gun at me since I got out of the car, and continued to do so now.''
The police bureau investigation concluded that there was no evidence the officer's gun had been fitted for a laser sight.
Barnes' girlfriend, also unidentified, has told Del Duca that she, too, informed the officer that Barnes played for the Steelers, but was ignored.
Barnes said the officer told him to kneel next to his truck while he called for backup, and that he ignored Barnes' protest that he could not kneel because he was recovering from recent knee surgery. Barnes has missed much of the season due to the surgery.
``He screamed at me to kneel down, while at the same time pointing his gun at me from close range,'' Barnes wrote. ``I painfully complied because I had no choice.''
A police van arrived with an undercover officer and police dog inside, shortly followed by a county sheriff, who recognized Barnes and informed the other officers that Barnes could not be the suspect. That's when he was released.
``The officer explained that my truck matched the description of the truck involved, including the fact that I had Virginia license plates and that, because I am black, I was pulled over,'' Barnes wrote. ``He never told me that I broke any laws, that my license plate matched those involved in the Virginia crimes, or that he had any good reason for pulling me over.
``I did not do anything wrong, and did not deserve to be pulled over by the police. . . . I did not deserve any of the humiliating results of the officer's conduct, including but not limited to having to kneel in front of strangers, and especially my girlfriend, with a gun pointed to my head.''
The officer has said that Barnes was abusive and failed to comply with his original command to put his hands in the air. Barnes denies making any threatening gestures or taking any improper action. by CNB