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Tuesday, 12 December 2006 19:00 |
Police looking for suspect
in Tunnel Rd. bank robbery
Asheville police are on the lookout for a man suspected of robbing the First Citizens Bank at 1210 Tunnel Rd. about 11 a.m. this past Tuesday.
According to a police spokesman, the suspect, a black male, was wearing a blue, oversize ski-type puffy jacket with a dark green hoodie-type jacket underneath. He had wraparound-style sunglasses.
No weapon was brandished and no injuries were reported. Anyone with information relating to the robbery is asked to call Lt. Kevin West at 259-5896 or 259-5910.
Swannanoa teen charged
with assault, conspiracy
SWANNANOA ÇƒÓ A
teenage inmate at the Swannanoa Valley Youth Development Center was
charged last Sunday with assaulting a government official with a deadly
weapon.
Buncombe County
sheriffës deputies arrested Ellis Lynn Hill, 16, after he reportedly
stabbed an officer with a lead pencil while the officer was discussing
disciplinary action for Hill.
Hill was already serving time for previous assault charges.
In addition, he
was charged with felony conspiracy to commit an unlawful act and was
being held at the Buncombe County jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond.
Officers also
arrested Bryan Scott Jarrett, 36, of Greenridge Road in Weaverville on
charges of felony conspiracy related to the incident. He was being held
in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
Witness in car racing case
says speed caused wreck
An expert
witness testified in court last Friday that Bracken Douglas Shue lost
control of his pickup truck when he rounded a curve on Mills Gap Road
much too fast.
The Feb. 19
accident led to the death of Jennifer Kristen Williams, 25, of
Asheville, after she was thrown out of the truck when it hit a tree.
Trooper Robert
Grayson, who specializes in crash reconstruction for the State Highway
Patrol, testified that centrifugal force pulled the truck off the
roadway and into a tree.
His testimony
contradicts the claim of defense attorney Sean Devereux that Shue was
forced off the road by co-defendant William Baxter Taylor of Arden.
Grayson said he
ruled out the possibility that another vehicle had caused Shue to run
off the road by examining tire marks on the road at the crash site.
Because of those marks and the extensive damage to the truck, Grayson
said he concluded the vehicle was going exceptionally fast at the time
of the accident, though he could not specify the exact speed.
Furthermore, he
said that in his 17 years of experience as a trooper, he has never
before seen a crash so powerful that part of the seat was ejected from
the vehicle.
The charges
against 25-year-old Shue, of Fletcher, include second-degree murder,
speed competition, reckless driving to endanger, unsafe passing and
driving with a revoked license.
In other developments in the trial:
ï Prosecutors played a recording of a message left by Williams on her fatherës cell phone about four hours before the accident.
"I guess Iëll
talk to you before too long. All right. Bye. I love you," she said on
the message. The jury also was shown a photograph of Williams and her
parents.
Williamsë father, Emmett Williams testified that the message was the first time his daughter had mentioned Shue to him.
He also
described her as "a little angel" who had been undergoing treatments
for cancer and had received an award for perfect attendance through all
her school years when she graduated from Roberson High School.
ï A trooper testified last Thursday that Shue gave conflicting accounts of the wreck.
Just after the
crash, Shue reportedly asserted that he did not remember how it
happened. Later, he changed his story to asserting that another vehicle
collided with him before he struck a tree, but he did not know who was
driving it, Trooper Greg Reynolds of the State Highway Patrol reported.
But witnesses testified that Shue knew he was racing with Taylor.
ï The judge in
the trial ruled on Dec. 4 that Taylor did not have to testify at the
trial, after he plead his Fifth-Amendment right to remain silent.
Taylor, through
his Defense Attorney Bill Parker, took the Fifth during the trial of
Shue, after Shueës attorney subpoenaed him to testify about the crash.
While Taylor faces the same charges, he will be tried later.
If convicted, Shue faces up to 20 years in prison.
ï The state
rested its case after a week of testimony and jury selection. Judge
James Baker said he would rule later on a motion by Devereux to dismiss
the murder charge against Shue.
Asheville police officer hurt in high-speed car chase
An Asheville Police Department officer dislocated his shoulder last Thursday trying to stop a man in a high-speed chase.
The vehicle
police were chasing, a van driven by John Michael Walker, 40, of
Asheville, left a traffic stop around 12:45 a.m. Thursday.
Officer Joshua Breneman later said his arm was injured after it got caught behind the seat of Walkerës van.
Earlier, Breneman and Officer Sonia Escobedo had stopped Walker for allegedly speeding at about 82 mph in a 60-mph zone on I-40.
After police
pulled him over, Walker reportedly started to get out of the car, then
tried to get back in the vehicle, at which point a struggle erupted.
Breneman went
after Walker, later stating that he believed Walker was trying to get
something. When Walker accelerated, Brenemanës shoulder was dislocated.
Walker allegedly had a quarter of a pound of marijuana in his van, much of which he threw out during the ensuing chase.
After his injury, another police officer saw the vehicle and gave chase through the Reynolds area.
The pursuit led police onto U.S. 74, where police had set up "stop sticks" that punctured Walkerës tires.
The van crashed at the I-240 westbound bridge.
Walker then tried to flee on foot, allegedly struggling with officers after they caught up with him.
Walker later
went to the hospital, before being transported to the Buncombe County
Detention Facility, where he was being held on a $25,000 bond.
He is charged
with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, fleeing
arrest in a vehicle, assaulting a government official, resisting
officers, damaging property, driving while impaired and possessing
marijuana.
The DWI charge resulted from Walkerës refusal to take a sobriety test.
UNCA student, 19, faces
charge after drug admission
UNC Asheville
campus police last Friday arrested William Clayton Murray, 19, of
Durham on a charge of using drug paraphernalia to ingest a controlled
substance that is unlawful to possess.
Murray, a UNCA
student who lives in West Ridge Hall, was arrested about 10:19 p.m.
after campus police received a complaint from housing staff in Mills
Hall.
Police were told that the scent of marijuana could be detected coming out of a dormitory room in Mills Hall.
Upon
investigation, police found Murray and two female students inside the
room. Officer David Shelton asked the students to meet with him in the
hallway, where he asked them about the odor wafting from their room.
Murray was charged after he reportedly admitted to smoking marijuana outside the residence hall prior to visiting the room.
Police seeking information
about alleged check thief
Police are on
the lookout for someone who has been stealing checks from mailboxes
around Buncombe County and cashing them at local banks.
Officials say
that the thief removes checks people have placed in their mailboxes and
washes the ink off before rewriting his name on them.
The thefts started in November and continued last Thursday, according to Asheville-Buncombe Crime Stoppers.
The suspect has
been cashing the checks under the alias of Fabian Paul Urioste, using a
Florida driverës license as identification.
Witnesses have
reported seeing the man in a white car with a gray lower body ǃÓ
possibly a 1998 Oldsmobile, Crime Stoppers reported.
Anyone with information about the thefts is urged to call 255-5050 or Buncombe County sheriffës detectives at 250-4436.
Bridge on I-40 dedicated
to Trooper George C. Penn
The bridge on
I-40 at Exit 53 that crosses over US 74-A as officially renamed the
Trooper George C. Penn Bridge last Friday in recognition of Pennës
service to the state and Buncombe County.
Penn was slain on Aug. 22, 1937 by gunshot wounds inflicted by two escaped felons in a stolen car.
The ceremony was
held at Gashes Creek Baptist Church on Gashes Creek Road. Attendees
included Bryan E. Beatty, secretary of the department of crime control
and Col. W. Fletcher Clay, commander of the N.C. State Highway Patrol.
Wrecker services sought
by Asheville Police Dept.
The Asheville Police Department is accepting applications for inclusion on the departmentës call list for wrecker services.
All wrecker
companies that meet the cityës towing service requirements and have the
requisite availability may apply at any point before Dec. 29.
Applications and
the list of requirements is available at the police information desk in
the Municipal Building, located at 100 Court Plaza. After the
application period is over, the police department will establish
on-call lists and rotation assignments.
For more information, call 259-5969.
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