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Police Stage Attack On Garden Hills |
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by Brian Dolinar
Email: briandolinar (nospam) gmail.com (verified) |
07 Jun 2006
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Police Stage Attack On Garden Hills |
Police Stage Attack On Garden Hills.
By Brian Dolinar
Police have long been regarded by many in the African American community as an occupying army. The recent use of overwhelming force by police in Garden Hills, a predominantly working class African American neighborhood in Champaign, only feeds into this perception. After a 4-hour standoff, Carl “Dennis” Stewart, 46, was forced into a corner by police and he killed himself.
The death of this husband and family man should be considered a sign of continued social ills by all members of the Champaign-Urbana community.
On the afternoon of May 11, 2006, Champaign police responded to a domestic violence call in the Garden Hills neighborhood, just north of Bradley Avenue and west of Prospect. Upon arriving at the scene, they found Stewart, a well-liked head custodian at Booker T. Washington elementary school, sitting alone in his parked car in the driveway of a neighborhood house with a gun. It was learned that Stewart had been separated from his wife, was going through marital problems, and was suicidal.
Champaign police quickly leaped into action by calling in the S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics) team and rolling out the force's prized A.P.C. (Armored Personel Carrier), an expensive high-tech tank designed to suppress mobs and riots. Intead of handling this as a potential suicide, the police reacted as if this were a demonstration in the case of a terrorist attack.
Police brought in a hostage negotiator, but after several hours they had gained no ground. Pinned into a corner by the police tank, Stewart attempted to flee in his car, and was trapped by police. The situation ended with the worst outcome when Stewart turned the gun on himself.
Court Watch in Garden Hills
A new watchdog organization called Community Court Watch grew out of cop watch efforts that began over two years ago. Court Watch members Aaron Ammons of C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice, Tanya Parker of Habari Connection, and myself went out into the Garden Hills community to interview people about their perception of the police reaction.
One woman who lives on Joanne Lane, where the standoff occurred, told us she has not received a full explanation from the police. The first thing she saw was police with drawn pistols and rifles in her front yard. When she went outside, she was sternly directed by police to go back into the house. Her greatest concern was for her child who was returning home from school.
She went on to explain that she saw the armored tank chase Stewart's vehicle up the block. She described the site where the suicide occurred and told us it looked like the armored tank had rammed Stewart's car, pushed him off the road and into a post.
Other neighbors we interviewed told us they heard six shots, not the alleged single gunshot.
Many we talked to expressed their concern that police did not allow family members to talk with Stewart. A photo in the May 12, 2006 issue of the News-Gazette showed Stewart's brother restrained by police and he was quoted as crying repeatedly, “You're just going to shoot him anyway.”
One interviewee who knows Stewart's mother said that even she was not given a chance to talk to her own son. Police brought Stewart's mother to the scene, but would not allow her to talk to him. “If anyone could,” the interviewee explained, “certainly a mother could talk to her son.”
Someone else we talked to said she also knows the family. She claimed that it was after police cut off a phone conversation between Stewart and his wife that he took off in his car.
A witness told us that the white hostage negotiator was not very helpful. Watching the incident from the front window of his house, he stated bluntly that after listening to the negoiator, he was ready to kill himself.
One question raised is why a hostage negotiator and not a suicide counselor?
“They was worse than the military.”
Pointing to Arrowhead Lanes bowling alley at the end of the street, a neighbor described the army of police officers lined up in the parking lot, all wearing black uniforms. While we interviewed her, a UPS truck drove by. Gesturing at it, she said the police truck was even bigger – a “big blue tank.” I asked if the police seemed as if they were carrying out a military exercise. She said, “Shoot, they was worse than the military.”
I asked one woman if it could have ended another way. She told me, “It went down exactly how they wanted it to go down. He was Black. They didn't care.” Do you think this would have happened in a white neighborhood? She said, “Hell no!”
Those we interviewed felt that only half the story has been told by the local media. The News-Gazette did little more than dictate what the police told them to say. In the newspaper, Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney congratulated his force and said, “There was a considerable amount of restraint shown” (5/13/2006).
Two years ago, when the African American community opposed the purchase of Tasers in Champaign, Chief Finney was just beginning his tenure with the force. After the City Council failed to endorse the purchase of Tasers, Finney agreed it was best and said it should be his priority to improve his relationship with the community (News-Gazette 3/25/2004).
After this latest police stunt in Garden Hills, it does not look like Chief Finney has made much progress in this relationship.
In Urbana, new Police Chief Mike Billy is talking about reinstituting the Street Crime Unit to fight drugs, yet another heavy-handed police response to what is at its root a problem that should be treated through social services, not more police raids.
Of course, an investigation will free the Champaign police department of all blame. Unfortunately, community relations between African American residents and the police will continue to worsen.
Reprinted from the Public i, June issue. |
This work is in the public domain |
