Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 11:43:13 -0700
From: crowtalk@THERIVER.COM (Joe Horn)
Subject: Officer Suspended for Comments
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu


By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 15, 2001; Page B01


A Prince George's County police officer was suspended without pay
yesterday after he said he would have shot the two unarmed homeless
men who are now at the center of a police brutality trial.

Police Chief John S. Farrell suspended Pfc. Brian Lott after reading
reports of remarks Lott made Monday outside U.S. District Court in
Greenbelt, said Royce D. Holloway, a police spokesman. Holloway said
the department would investigate whether Lott's comment amounted to
conduct unbecoming an officer or other violations.

Police commanders also are sending e-mails advising officers to review
a departmental policy forbidding them from wearing uniforms in
courthouses where they are prohibited from carrying guns.

Dressed in his gray police uniform, Lott was in a vestibule jut
outside a courtroom where two fellow officers are being retried on
civil rights and conspiracy charges connected to a 1995 police dog
attack when he made a loud remark in front of three reporters.

"I wish I would have been there in '95. I would have shot the
bastards, and we wouldn't have all this crap," Lott said.

Lott appeared to be speaking to supporters of the defendants, Officer
Stephanie C. Mohr and Sgt. Anthony Delozier, but he spoke loud enough
for anyone in the vestibule to hear.

Farrell's action came as defense attorneys and prosecutors delivered
closing arguments in the two-week trial. The jury began deliberations
in the early afternoon.

Holloway said Lott will have an administrative hearing today before a
deputy chief. Internal affairs will then investigate the incident and
seek to interview witnesses, Holloway said.

The Washington Post reported yesterday that a number of uniformed
county police officers have sat in the courtroom to support Mohr and
Delozier during the two-week trial, apparently in violation of the
department's rules.

Yesterday, only one county police officer came to the courtroom in
uniform: Officer Brian C. Catlett, who in February was acquitted by a
Prince George's Circuit Court judge of voluntary manslaughter in the
fatal shooting of an unarmed college student in November 1999.

In court, Alexander H. Busansky, a trial lawyer in the civil rights
division of the Justice Department, argued that Mohr and Delozier
"crossed the line between right and wrong" and counted on polce
loyalty to cover up their actions.

He told the jury that Mohr released her police dog, with Delozier's
permission, on Ricard G. Mendez even though the day laborer had his
hands up against a wall and had surrendered. While the dog bit a chunk
out of Mendez's left calf, another county police officer beat Mendez's
companion, Jorge Herrera-Cruz, even though he also had surrendered,
Busansky said.

"This is not a complicated case," Busansky said. "This is the stuff of
Sunday school."

Defense attorneys for Mohr and Delozier argued that government
witnesses, including one current and one former Takoma Park police
officer, are not credible.

David M. Simpson, Mohr's attorney, reminded jurors that Dennis W.
Bonn, a retired Takoma Park police sergeant, testified that he
considered another key prosecution witness, Takoma Park police officer
Keith Largent, to be a liar.

Simpson said Mohr decided to release her police dog on her own because
Mendez made a quick movement to his left, which Mohr believed was an
effort to escape.

Delozier's attorney, William C. Brennan, said Mendez may have had his
hands up high enough to satisfy Takoma Park police, but not high
enough for Prince George's police.

In his rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach urged
jurors not to ignore clear evidence of police misconduct.

"This wasn't okay, whether these were two homeless men or two
burglars," Dettelbach said. Pointing at the defendants, he said, "They
still don't get that."

In March, a federal jury acquitted Mohr, 30, of conspiracy and could
not reach a verdict on a charge of violation of civil rights under
color of law. The same jury acquitted Delozier, 40, of a civil rights
violation and deadlocked on a conspiracy charge.

Mohr is being retried on the civil rights charge, and Delozier is
being retried on the conspiracy charge.

The day began with about 40 demonstrators, including about a dozen
Latino day laborers, marching in front of the federal courthouse while
chanting slogans denouncing brutality by Prince George's police and
calling for the jury to convict Mohr and Delozier.

Before closing arguments began, U.S. District Judge Deborah K.
Chasanow asked jury members whether they had seen the demonstration.
They all indicated they had, and Chasanow briefly questioned each
juror.



 2001 The Washington Post Company