DATE: Wednesday, October 1, 1997            TAG: 9710010444

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   66 lines

NAACP SAYS POLICE SHOOTING OF WOMAN NEEDS OUTSIDE INQUIRY

The local branch of the NAACP on Tuesday repeated its call for an outside investigation of police officers who shot and wounded a Fernwood Shores woman, saying that the prosecutor's report on the incident is a ``whitewash.''

Commonwealth's Attorney Larry D. Willis said last Tuesday that he would not prosecute four officers involved in the Aug. 22 shooting of Carlett Karim.

The police department may finish a separate internal investigation by the end of the week, spokesman Dave Hughes said.

But the NAACP restated its sentiments from its Sept. 3 press conference that it would not be satisfied by investigations conducted by city officials.

``It is our position that the only way to get to the bottom of this matter is to have an independent and impartial investigation,'' a release by the NAACP stated.

Willis stood by his findings. ``I'm sorry to see that kind of reaction,'' he said.

March Cromuel, president of the local branch of the NAACP, said Tuesday that he met with the FBI last week to discuss a separate inquiry. Cromuel said he provided the FBI with the same list of witnesses to the incident that the Fernwood Shores civic league gave to Willis.

Cromuel said his canvassing of those Fernwood Shores residents yielded different conclusions than those in Willis' report, in particular as to the distance the officers were from Karim and the timing of the incident.

Willis said in his report that witnesses' versions of the incident varied greatly regarding the length and how many shots were fired. Willis concluded that the incident took between 15 and 20 minutes and that there were two shots.

``The Chesapeake Branch of the NAACP feels that in order for the community to heal that ALL the facts need to be disclosed,'' the organization's release stated.

FBI officials couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday, but have said that bureau policy dictates that it not comment on whether an official investigation is taking place. Officials have said that if the FBI were to have jurisdiction, it would have to be a civil rights investigation.

Cromuel said Tuesday that the NAACP was concerned that race may have played a role in the incident, in which Karim, who is black, cut two officers with a steak knife before she was shot.

``We have some concerns,'' Cromuel said. ``Would this police officer have shot had she been caucasian?''

Cromuel also cited a lingering tension between between African-Americans and police, referring to the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles and the alleged attack by New York City police of a Haitian man this summer.

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

Willis said Tuesday that he found that race played no role in the incident.

``I hate to see someone inject race where race was not an issue,'' Willis said.

Cromuel raised concerns Tuesday about how much cultural sensitivity training the police officer who shot Karim had received.

All officers take a 12-hour, diversity-training course that is not state-mandated, said police spokesman Hughes.

Cromuel also requested more information about the officer who had shot Karim and questioned why the officer should be allowed to return to work in light of the ongoing internal investigation.

The officer starts back at the First Precinct today, and is assigned to desk work, Hughes said.

Police have refused to identify the officer. According to police reports, those at the scene Aug. 22 were officers V.L. Blake, C.F. Esslinger, L.K. Goldsmith and C.D. Wittstruck.

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