Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Authorities defend an officer's actions, as a woman's family decries her arrest.
By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 11, 2003
CLEARWATER -- A woman plucked from the front row of a concert and grabbed around the neck by a police officer says she was mistreated, but Clearwater police say the officer acted properly to subdue a brawling woman.
"He grabbed me," said Ashley Talley, 19, a 110-pound, 5-foot-4 nursing student. "He yanked me over the gate. They shouldn't do me like that."
A Clearwater assistant city manager who witnessed the incident Saturday night stands by the officer.
"I was standing right there and this woman was the sole aggressor throughout the entire altercation," said Garry Brumback. "The officer involved was gentle as he possibly could have been in the face of an attack. The headline ought to be: Officer defends himself."
Talley was in the front row of the WildSplash rap and reggae concert at Coachman Park in Clearwater on Saturday. The incident began about 6:15 p.m., when she was watching a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony performance with three of her siblings.
A crowd of more than 15,000 was pushing forward in an attempt to get closer to the stars. Talley said her 13-year-old sister was being crushed, and Talley got into a fight with a girl standing behind her.
St. Petersburg Times photos show a Clearwater police officer grabbing Talley, hauling her over the barricade and passing her off to a medic. Photos then show the officer exchanging words with Talley before trying to subdue her with a thumb pressed into her neck.
The police and Talley agree that Talley was trying to go back for her 13-year-old sister, Arkia Scott.
Talley was arrested and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony.
Talley's mother, Reneita Johnson, believes two of her children were mistreated. "I'm going to file a complaint," she said.
Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor defended the officer, saying it is appropriate for police to break up fights.
"The person who is fighting with an officer -- their actions dictate what police officers do to protect themselves," said Shelor. "Ms. Talley took an aggressive posture and said she wasn't leaving, continuing to swing at the officer, striking him more than once."
Clearwater officials declined to release the identity of the officer, and the city is not planning to investigate, Brumback said.
Two outside law enforcement experts who viewed the photos on the Times' Web site Monday said they believe the officer's actions were justified.
"I would go to bat for this police officer as an expert in the use of force," said Ken Cooper, director of Tactical Handgun Training, a New York consultanting firm offering courses in use-of-force training.
The officer also had fewer options dealing with a woman than a man, said Greg MacAleese, a former Albuquerque, N.M., police detective who is president of Law Enforcement Technologies. "When you're dealing with a woman, there aren't too many places that your hands can go that aren't going to get you in trouble," he said.
Talley's brother, 13-year-old Arron Scott, also was subdued by police that night. Siblings say Arron was handled by four police officers. Arron, who was not arrested, was "shaking like a ghost" and unable to speak for hours after the incident, Johnson said.
The city used 44 off-duty police officers who made 10 felony and misdemeanor arrests and ejected at least 27 people from the park, Shelor said.
Johnson wants to resolve the issue quickly.
"I just want them to drop the charges on my daughter," Johnson said. "I want all this stuff washed out for my child because this is going to hurt her future."
-- Times staff writer Chris Tisch and researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report.