AGR editor injured
by Asheville Police

By Nicholas Holt

Asheville, North Carolina, Nov. 6 (AGR)— Early on the morning of Nov. 1, following police disruption of a Halloween-inspired midnight marching band parade in downtown Asheville, city resident and Asheville Global Report editor Eamon Martin was arrested by one or more members of the Asheville Police Department (APD).

Martin, who was injured during the arrest, feels both the arrest and the degree of force employed by the police were unjustified.

AGR editor Eamon Martin shortly after being released from police custody on November 1, 2002.

Martin recalls immediatly before his arrest that he stood with his hands in the air and verbally expressed his compliance with the officers.

During his arrest, Martin’s face was thrown against a street curb. As a result, his right eye was so badly swollen that he was unable to open it for three days and was forced to miss a day of work.

Martin recalls the arrival of police as the only down-side to what had been an enjoyable Halloween celebration.
“[The parade] was really large and festive and was making its way through downtown and looked like a lot of fun – and it was. We had a great time. People were just dancing and singing and carrying on to a marching band,” says Martin, who estimates the crowd size at 150 - 200.

“The next thing I know, we were penned in by cops. A cop car was coming up through the parade slowly and telling people to disperse. So, I walked away from the cop car. I was pretty annoyed at this, so I barked out ‘Fuck this,’ and immediately noticed that a cop, who I found out later was Officer D. Loveland, got out of her car.”

Martin then ran from the police. He did this because of “a previous altercation in which I was arrested for watching someone get ticketed and was found guilty. I didn’t want to have that happen again.”

That previous arrest and subsequent conviction left Martin with a cynical view of justice in the city of Asheville. During his trial, he says he observed a disturbing level of apparent camaraderie between his public defender and the officer.

“I got the overall sense, especially from the judge…that city workers are looking out for each other and aren’t going to embarrass each other, or give each other any trouble, to keep the status quo relations of power the way they are,” says Martin, explaining his desire to avoid conflict with the police that early morning last week. “So I tried to avoid arrest. I ran, and thought I was doing what they wanted – I was dispersing.”

Seeing that he was being chased, Martin says he stopped running after about half a block.

“I put both arms in the air, and I said ‘I give up, I’m compliant, I’m compliant,’ and then, about two seconds later, the next thing I know, I’m on the pavement and my head was whacked into the curb.

“My face hit the curb. I’m lucky it wasn’t my teeth or my nose.”

Martin said that when he asked Loveland, “Did you just smack me down on the pavement because I said the word ‘fuck’?” the police officer replied that that was indeed the case.

Martin notes that, although the police “couldn’t hear me say [he was compliant], they could hear me mutter an obscenity from inside a squad car.”

City of Asheville ordinance code Article 1, Sec. 11-9 does forbid “loud or boisterous swearing in any public place in the city,” but Martin was not charged with this offence.

Martin is charged with resist, delay and abstruct. His citation form, as filled out by Officer Loveland, reads that he “Did appear intox [sic] and disruptive in a public place to wit: cursing by saying fuck this when told to dispurse [sic].”

“I had been drinking,” says Martin. “but I don’t know that I would have called myself intoxicated.”

The police report gives no record of Martin being administered a breathalizer or otherwise tested for blood alcohol content.

Also arrested was AGR volunteer Shane Perlowin.

“I was walking down the street and saw Eamon being chased down by some cops and so, like I do for anybody, I walked over [because] I was concerned there wouldn’t be anybody to view what was going on,” Perlowin says.

Perlowin says a police officer threatened him with a tazer gun and announced “I’ll fucking zap your ass,” and ordered Perlowin to back up, which Perlowin says he did.

Perlowin says he was then handcuffed tightly enough to leave bruises and taken to the jail where he says he was groped and sexually harassed by the officer who frisked him.

North Carolina state law allows for the use of force during arrests (NCGS 15a-401(d)) but the document is clear in its prohibition of abuse of such police power: “Nothing in this subdivision [of the general statute] constitutes justification for willful, malicious, or criminally negligent conduct by any person which injures or endangers any person or property, nor shall it be construed to excuse or justify the use of unreasonable or excessive force.”

Asheville’s citywide regulations are even more explicit: “Officers will use only the minimum amount of force necessary to achieve lawful objectives. Any use of excessive force may subject the officer to disciplinary action, civil damages, and criminal prosecution.” (Policy Number: 1030)

The same document states that “Whenever any officer uses any force that results in…serious physical injury to another person, the Chief or his designee will place the officer on administrative leave or assign him to duties that do not require carrying a firearm, until completion of the investigation. [And] relieve the officer of his weapon after the incident…Any officer involved..[shall] attend a preliminary counseling session with the Employee Assistance Program.”

As of press time, the APD did not provide the AGR with requested information regarding Officer Loveland or other officers present at Martin’s arrest in relation to these regulations.

The APD’s “Mission,” “Values,” and “Guiding Principals” include the following:

• “We subscribe to the principle that services will be delivered in a manner which preserves and upholds democratic values within our neighborhoods.”
• “The mission of the Asheville Police Department is to provide community leadership, to promote individual responsibility, and a commitment to improving the City’s quality of life through crime control and public safety while serving all people with fairness and respect.”
• “We believe that quality service is achieved by… maintaining the highest standards of honesty, trustworthiness, and mutual respect.”
• “The Asheville Police Department [work is] consistent with the following principles: Respect for human rights…” [Italics added].

Martin says he encountered little respect, fairness, or regard for his human rights during his experience and notes that he feels the behavior of the APD resembled that of “bullies who could exercise brutality with impunity…I found my rights to be very flexible and highly negotiable as far as they were concerned.”

After being held for three or four hours, Martin was released.
“
Right before they let me go, one of the corrections officers said something to the effect of ‘Are you gonna sue us? Don’t sue us. I mean, you can go ahead and sue us, but you’re not gonna win, because we’re well protected and backed by the state,’” he says, noting “I was slightly amused by this remarkable honesty.”