After cross-county chase,
suspect in critical condition

Following a cross-county car chase on May 30, a suspect in a Buncombe County breaking-and-entering apparently shot himself. He later was hospitalized.

The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department responded to a reported break-in at 235 Barnardsville Highway about 3 p.m., when the responding officer spotted the suspect’s vehicle traveling north on N.C. 197, police noted.

The suspect failed to stop for the officer and crossed counties, where the Yancey County Sheriff’s Department and N.C. Highway Patrol continued the pursuit. Through the use of stop sticks, the vehicle, headed south on N.C. 197 near Burnsville, veered down an embankment.
Officers subsequently found a male driver with a self-inflicted single gunshot wound to the head. The driver, a 19-year-old from Leicester, was taken to the Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee, where he was listed in critical condition. As of early this week, charges had not yet been filed.

Owner of 3 dogs to face
11 charges after attack

CANDLER — A woman who owns three dogs that mauled a 9-year-old girl will face at least 11 misdemeanor criminal charges, Lt. Helen Hall, director of Buncombe County Animal Services, said on May 29.

Pamela Bechinski, 47, of Corvette Drive, Candler, will be charged with three charges each of owning dogs that bite, allowing animals to run at large and failing to have animals vaccinated. In addition, she will face two charges of not having animals spayed or neutered.

The charges could culminate in fines and fees costing thousands of dollars.

On May 22, three dogs — a pit bull, a boxer and a “Lab-mutt mix” — attacked Erin Thomas, who was riding her bicycle near the end of the family’s driveway. The dogs bit her on her legs and hand and Hall described Erin’s injuries as serious. The girl was released from the hospital on May 26.

After more investigation, Hall learned that a neighbor said her son had been bitten twice by the dogs.

The dogs were seized by animal control officers and being kept at the county animal shelter for a 10-day quarantine to determine if the animals are sick. After that, officials will decide whether the animals are dangerous, which means the owner will have to comply with strict confinement rules. Hall noted that the decision in this case is clear-cut and she will deem the animals dangerous.

Music minister loses job
in indecent liberties case

Five days after he was charged with taking indecent liberties with a student, a former church music minister at St. Eugene’s Catholic Church was charged May 23 with additional sexual exploitation charges.

Paul Lawrence Berrell, 29, faces nine counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after police searched his North Ridge Drive home. They found pictures of a minor engaged in sexual activity, the Asheville Police Department reported.

The charges stem from the investigation that followed Berrell’s arrest on May 18 on one count of taking indecent liberties with a student “under the age of 16 years for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.”

The incident occurred April 21 at Berrell’s home, barely on the Woodfin side of the Woodfin-Asheville municipal line, a police report stated. The report noted that a “parent called (police) to report indecent liberties with a child.”

In the aftermath, a spokesman for the Diocese of Charlotte, of which St. Eugene’s is a part, said Berrell’s employment for the church ended as of May 18 afternoon. Berrell was being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center on a $90,000 bond.

A previous minister of music at St. Eugene’s, Chuck Taft, left that job amid a church investigation after he was placed on administrative leave in August 2006. Taft was never charged, but church officials said ehy followed St. Eugene’s polices on sex misconduct in the Taft case.

Doctor’s license suspended
by state’s Medical Board

The North Carolina Medical Board suspended — in a consent order — an Asheville doctor’s medical license indefinitely in late May.
Dr. John Clarke McIntosh admitted to allegations by the Medical Board that he prescribed — without formal training  — narcotics and practiced chronic pain management, the consent order stated.

McIntosh had no formal training in treating chronic pain and did not always do enough to document his pain medication prescriptions, the board noted.

McIntosh drew the attention of people illegally seeking prescription drugs — and those people were selling drugs prescribed by him, the consent order also stated.

Buncombe County law enforcement officials informed McIntosh that some of his patients were selling drugs prescribed by him, but McIntosh continued to prescribe controlled substances to some of the patients, the order noted.

Two students at UNCA
report theft of MacBooks

Two MacBook Apple laptop computers were reported stolen about 4:55 p.m. May 8 from 110 Mills Hall at UNC Asheville.

Two UNCA students, Julie Louise Bartley of Pinehurst and Helen Elizabeth Lindau of Vilas, reported their laptop computers stolen. Bartley’s MacBook computer was valued at $1,500, and Lindau’s, $1,200.

UNCA campus police also released the following arrest reports:
• Vandalism was reported about 7:30 a.m. May 10 at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville at 151 W.T. Weaver Blvd. Damaged were a glass bulletin board, valued at $50; a wooden bridge, $50; and a bench, $20. Spray paint was used to draw designs on the property, according to campus police, who are investigating further.

• Vandalism was reported at Ridges Parking Deck at 12:16 p.m. May 8. About $100 in damage was sustained by “structures — other,” police reported. The vandal or vandals “used paint to create an image on the wall.”

• Graffiti was reported about 12:08 p.m. May 8 on the second-floor breezeway of Governors Hall. Someone used a can of spray paint to damage the glass on a bulletin board. Damage was estimated at $20.

• Someone used a black 2005 Honda CR-V to damage state property along W.T. Weaver Boulevard in an incident reported about 2:55 p.m. May 8. The landscaping damage was estimated at $500.

• James Thomas Crawford IV reported about 9:49 p.m. April 20 the larceny of his camera from 522 Founders Hall. The camera, last known to be secure on April 12, was valued at $600.

• Ryan Patrick Hoag was arrested in 303 Scott Hall at 1:20 p.m. April 19 on a charge of simple physical assault. Hoag, 21, is a Houston native who lives at 50-C Crystal June Lane in Asheville.