DATE: Thursday, September 4, 1997           TAG: 9709040457

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   77 lines

NAACP SEEKS INVESTIGATION OF SHOOTING PROSECUTOR CALLS INDICTMENTS UNLIKELY.

Based on the evidence he's received from police, Commonwealth's Attorney Larry D. Willis said Wednesday that his office would not seek any indictments in the shooting of a woman in Fernwood Shores last month.

But the Chesapeake chapter of the NAACP announced Wednesday that it would not be satisfied by any investigation conducted by city officials anyway.

``We just want to see fairness,'' said March Cromuel, president of the local NAACP branch, at a press conference in Fernwood Shores. ``We will not feel comfortable if only the city of Chesapeake does the investigation.''

Cromuel called for an investigation by the state police, the Justice Department or the FBI, or a separate citizens' inquiry.

On Aug. 22, Carlett Karim, 26, who is black, was shot twice after cutting two officers with a knife, according to police reports.

Willis' investigation is not complete. He has reviewed information from only the Police Department. On Wednesday, he received a list of 15 potential witnesses from the president of the Fernwood Shores Civic League, Gene A. Moore, and said he would begin checking into those witnesses today.

``I want to make sure that we have every scrap of evidence,'' Willis said.

The NAACP saw the shooting as an example of the police mistreating African-Americans.

``Let it be known that we are serving notice to the Chesapeake Police Department that the minority citizens or black citizens of Chesapeake feel that they are being treated unfairly,'' a news release from Cromuel said.

``Our young black people have said they are stopped frequently, and detained for long periods of time and not given a reason. They are left to assume that they are searched because they are young and black.''

Cromuel also was disturbed that he saw a majority of black defendants in traffic court in a city that's about 30 percent black.

Police spokesman Dave Hughes said the Police Department would not comment on the NAACP's request for another investigation until the commonwealth's attorney had finished his inquiry.

The FBI - along with the U.S. attorney's office and the Department of Justice - can initiate a civil rights investigation after receiving reliable information, according to FBI spokeswoman Jane Erickson.

On Aug. 22, police were called to the 500 block of Fernwood Farms Road by neighbors who saw Karim walking the street in bloodied underclothes while carrying a bowling pin and a small steak knife.

She refused to drop the knife, and cut the two officers on their arms, police reports said. After further negotiations, she threatened a third officer, advanced to within 3 to 5 feet of him, and was shot, police said.

The concerns outlined in the NAACP statement include:

Why the officers did not use pepper spray on Karim.

How much racial sensitivity training officers receive.

Whether the police officers involved had been informed that Karim had been taken to the hospital earlier in the day for unspecified care and then released.

Hughes said that someone armed with a knife within 21 feet of an officer is considered a threat to harm the officer. Pepper spray is effective only within 3 to 7 feet - much too close to protect against an armed attacker, Hughes said. Also, pepper spray does not guarantee stopping an attacker, he said.

All Chesapeake officers take a 12-hour cultural diversity course, he said.

As for Karim's earlier trip to the hospital, Hughes said he had no way of knowing whether that information had been passed on.

Karim, who was injured in her arm, back and chest, has been up and walking around, Cromuel said.

Two warrants for malicious wounding and one for attempted malicious wounding have been issued for Karim, Hughes said.

Although they acknowledged that Karim ignored their requests to drop the knife, neighbors who saw the incident said that police used excessive force in shooting her.

Last week, many neighbors complained to the City Council, prompting Mayor William E. Ward to demand that the council be kept abreast of the investigation.

The officer who shot Karim is on administrative leave until the investigation is complete, Hughes said.

No internal investigation will be conducted until the criminal inquiry is complete, he said. KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE POLICE INVESTIGATION SHOOTING NAACP

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