|
Tuesday, 13 February 2007 18:51 |
Ex-Woodfin chief of police
gets 30 days for hitting wife
A Buncombe County District Court judge sentenced former Woodfin Police Chief Pete Bradley to 30 days in jail last Wednesday, after finding him guilty of assaulting his now-deceased wife.
Judge Sharon Barrett found Bradley guilty of charges that he struck his wife Patsy on the head on Aug. 31, 2005.
The blow left a lump the size of a golf ball, according to Assistant District Attorney Paul Jackson. She was found after the attack in her car at a neighborís house.
According to hospital employees, Patsy Bradley said her husband had hit her with a flashlight.
Furthermore, her sister, Catherine Tinsley, said after the trial that Patsy Bradley had been scared of her husband.
However, defense
attorney Bert Neal cited testimony from a doctor who said that the
injury was not serious and that she refused medical treatment twice.
Bradley adamently denied that he had ever struck his wife.
Patsy Bradley
was found dead Oct. 4, 2005, as a result of an apparent suicide. A
subsequent investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation
determined that the death was self-inflicted and that she had been
motivated by depression and domestic discord.
Neal said he will appeal the conviction. Barrett set a $2,500 bond.
Thoms family estate owner
faces charges after party
The owner of the
Thoms family estate faces multiple charges related to a party that
police say brought about 250 guests to her home on Feb. 2.
Salene Thoms,
44, was arrested at the party at 75 Elk Mountain Scenic Highway and
charged with providing her 15-year-old daughter with alcohol.
She also faces charges of supplying nine other minors with alcohol.
Officials noted
that the charge of aiding and abetting underage drinking is fairly rare
and was filed only four times by Asheville officers in 2006.
Thomsí attorneys
complained about the way she was treated by police, saying that they
pushed her to the floor and handcuffed her before hauling her off to
jail without shoes or coat in subfreezing weather and then walked a dog
around the house looking for her daughter, all for a misdemeanor charge.
Lawyer Robert
Haggard also questioned whether the arrest was connected to plans by
Thoms to develop her property into a 162-home gated subdivision, whch
has drawn objections from neighbors.
Police say they
responded to calls about the party from neighbors and arrived to find
hundreds of teenagers, many of whom were drinking openly. Most of them
dispersed when the police arrived.
A small amount of marijuana also reportedly was found on the floor of the house.
Thoms has
countered that the alcohol was brought by uninvited guests and that she
was in the process of kicking them out when police arrived.
She was also
charged with resisting arrest, though her attorney says she was merely
telling the police not to let her dogs out when they arrived.
Chief Bill Hogan
defended the actions of police, saying it is not unusual for them to
force suspects to the ground when they resist arrest.
The Thoms estate
was built in 1940 by Harold Thoms, an Asheville radio and cable
television magnate, after whom Thoms Rehabilitation Hospital is named.
Selene Thoms was raised on the estate until she was 21 and returned in 1997. She lives there now with her two daughters.
Woman reports date rape
at hotel after party on bus
Investigators are looking into a report of a date rape at a Brevard Road motel on Feb. 4.
The alleged
female victim was found walking along Interstate 26 after a desk clerk
at the Country Inn & Suites reported the incident.
The woman told
police she had been drinking on a party bus earlier that day and had
come to the motel with a group of people and started having consensual
sex with a man there.
However, she
said, she changed her mind and told him to stop, but he refused. No
charges have been filed and police said they plan on interviewing the
accused man.
Two charged with murder
of man over camping spot
Asheville police recently charged two men with the murder of a homeless man found under the Smokey Park Bridge last month.
Robert Adam
Hoover, 21, of Old Fort and Justin Harrison Nicholson, 20, of Charlotte
were charged in the death of 48-year-old James Lovin.
The dispute that
led to Lovinís murder reportedly began when the men fought over the
right to camp in a certain spot under the bridge.
Lovinís body was found Jan. 28 on state-owned property adjacent to the Norfolk Southern Railroad property, near Roberts Street.
Hoover is
charged with first-degree murder. He was in custody at the McDowell
County jail at the time the charges were made. He will be released into
the custody of Buncombe County upon his release from the McDowell
County facility.
Nicholson is
charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He
was arrested by police in Greenville, S.C., after getting off a bus
there. Nicholson is currently awaiting extradition back to Asheville.
UNCA student accused
of marijuana possession
UNC Asheville
campus police issued a state citation to David Allen Shaw for
possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in 518 Founders Hall on
campus late last Thursday.
Shaw, 19, a UNCA
student from Murfreesboro, also was issued a student conduct citation
for defacing public property and for underage drinking.
The action
occurred when Officer David Shelton noticed Shaw burning a paper flyer
during a walk-through patrol of the fifth floor of Founders Hall.
The officer said
he escorted Shaw to the fifth-floor lounge to ask him about the flyer
burning, at which time Shaw admitted to drinking a couple shots of
alcohol about 45 to 50 minutes earlier.
While Shelton
was writing the citation, Sgt. Joseph Jones arrived and got consent
from Shaw to search his room for alcohol and/or drugs.
During the
search, the officers reported that they found a bag containing less
than a half-ounce of marijuana, along with two glass pipes, a small
yellow bag with a blue bottle inside, one bong pipe and a paper tube
containing fabric softener sheets, each of the latter allegedly
containing marijuana residue.
Police cleared in shooting of man, following SBI probe
Buncombe County
District Attorney Ron Moore has cleared Asheville police officers of
wrongdoing in the shooting death of a man July 7.
Moore made his
decision after reviewing a report from the State Bureau of
Investigation about the incident, in which Officer Chad Bridges fired
four shots at Lacy Pickens III, 27, after the latter backed his car
into a police cruiser while trying to escape.
Bridges claims
he was afraid that Pickens was going to run down his partner, Sgt.
Danny Holden, who, unbeknownst to him, was out of immediate danger at
the time.
Pickens was hit in the head, shoulder and arm during the shooting off Smoky Park Highway.
Police later
said they found eight kilograms of cocaine in the car. Pickens had been
implicated in a major federal investigation going on at the time,
authorities said, and was suspected of dealing more than 30 kilograms
of cocaine a month.
Bridges reportedly returned to active duty two weeks ago.
Black Mountain authorities
explain fatal chase, crash
BLACK MOUNTAIN ó
A spokesman for the Black Mountain Police Department released details
last week of a fatal car crash Feb. 2 that followed a high-speed chase
on U.S. 70.
Authorities say
the driver, Crystal Porter, 34, died Feb. 3 as a result of injuries she
had sustained when she crashed into a rock wall and two unoccupied
vehicles in the parking lot of Hunters and Treasurers on East State
Street.
Earlier, Black Mountain police had received a request for assistance from the N.C. Highway Patrol about 9:26 p.m.
Troopers had
been following Porter, who was driving a dark-colored Jeep traveling
westbound on I-40 from McDowell County to Buncombe County. A witness
had reported that the vehicle struck a guardrail during the pursuit.
One Black Mountain officer started following her near exit 66 in Ridgecrest and activated his lights and siren.
However, the
driver failed to stop, pulling off at exit 65 and entering U.S. 70
instead. At that point, the officer stopped following her, while
another officer positioned himself ahead of the Jeep to warn other
drivers, police said.
Soon after
entering U.S. 70, Porter lost control of the vehicle, colliding with
the wall. No one else was injured in the accident.
Funeral services were held for Porter last Saturday in Nebo.
Death of Swannanoa man
termed homicide by Sheriff
SWANNANOA ó A
man found dead in a Swannanoa mobile home Feb. 5 was the victim of a
drug-related homicide, according to Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan.
Though the
victimís identity has not been made public, as authorities have not yet
contacted his relatives, the sheriffís office did release a picture of
the man and noted that he was in his 30s.
He reportedly
died of at least one gunshot wound to the head. He ws found at 4 West
Top Dr. about 11:15 a.m. by maintenance workers at the mobile home park
where authorities believe he lived.
The sheriffís
department determined the manís identity from a Mexican driverís
license. Meanwhile, the body has been sent to Chapel Hill to be
examined.
56 dogs seized in Candler
to be offered for adoption
Fifty-six dogs
that were confiscated from a Candler home during a raid by the BUncombe
County Sheriffís Department last month will be offered up for adoption,
officials say.
The announcement follows a decision by Sue Cole, the dogsí owner, to voluntarily give them up.
The animals,
mostly Australian terriers, were found at her home living in stacked
crates with feces spilling out and many of them were exposed to the
weather.
Cole, who faces
one felony charge of animal cruelty and 17 counts of misdemeanor animal
cruelty, reportedly signed a letter relinquishing ownership of the dogs
Feb. 2.
The Asheville
Humane Society and Australian Terrier Rescue Inc. are handling the
adoption of the dogs, 34 of whom are currently housed at the humane
society shelter.
The remaining dogs are currently being cared for at the Bed and Biscuit boarding kennel in Black Mountain.
All animals will be spayed or neutered, officials say.
Two charged with murder
of man over camping spot
Asheville police charged two men with the murder of a homeless man found under the Smokey Park Bridge last week.
Robert Adam
Hoover, 21, of Old Fort and Justin Harrison Nicholson, 20, of Charlotte
were charged in the death of 48-year-old James Lovin.
The dispute that
led to Lovinís murder reportedly began when the men fought over the
right to camp in a certain spot under the bridge.
Lovinís body was found Jan. 28 on state-owned property adjacent to the Norfolk Southern Railroad property, near Roberts Street.
Hoover is
charged with first-degree murder. He was in custody at the McDowell
County jail at the time the charges were made. He will be released into
the custody of Buncombe County upon his release from the McDowell
County facility.
Nicholson is
charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. He
was arrested by police in Greenville, S.C., after getting off a bus
there. Nicholson is currently awaiting extradition back to Asheville.
Man, ex take fight on road,
resulting in head-on crash
CANDLER ó A
head-on collision last Wednesday between a Canton man and his
ex-girlfriend may have resulted from a fight the pair were having,
authorities say.
Nathan Poston,
19, was hospitalized late in the morning, after his Ford Ranger struck
a Ford Mustang driven by Wendy Fowler, 21, about 1 a.m. on N.C. 151,
three miles southwest of Asheville.
Fowler and her passenger Courtney Frizzell, 19, were also treated and released at Mission Hospitals.
Poston was
charged with driving while impaired and reckless driving. In addition,
both drivers were cited for being left of center.
The pair
reportedly began their dispute in Canton, when Poston followed the
Mustang and exchanged gestures with the three passengers in Fowlerís
vehicle.
Authorities say
Fowler dropped off two of her passengers so they could fight Poston,
but he drove around them and continued to pursue her.
Fowler then turned her car around in order to drive toward Poston and the two collided head-on, officials said.
Smoke forces evacuation
of Citizen-Times building
Asheville
Citizen-Times employees were forced to evacuate the newspaperís
downtown office Jan. 17, following reports of smoke on the third floor
of the building.
Fire department
officials received a call about the smoke about 9:45 a.m. and
discovered that the smoke was caused by the buildingís heating system.
Asheville police department
promotes four of its officers
The Asheville
Police Department promoted four of its officers in a ceremony Jan. 12
in the auditorium of the Simpson Building at Asheville-Buncombe
Technical Community College.
Lt. Wade Wood was promoted to captain and will now be in charge of Administrative Services.
Sgt. Sean Pound was promoted to lieutenant and is now the commander of the South/Central District.
Officer Ernie Welborn was promoted to Sergeant. He remains in Criminal Investigations as a supervisor.
Officer Mike Hensley was promoted to sergeant and has been assigned to the West District.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
