The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.12           March 29, 1999 
 
 
SWP Candidate For Birmingham Mayor Says Prosecute Cops Who Beat Black Man  

BY STEPHEN BLOODWORTH AND EVAN ROBERTS
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - "My campaign calls for protests demanding the prosecution of the cops who, without provocation beat, maced, and jailed for six weeks Jonathan Thomas. Government attacks on democratic rights and actions like this on the part of the cops further embolden terrorists like those who murdered Billy Jack Gaither," said Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Birmingham, Ardella Blandford.

The charges of police brutality came to light just days after hundreds of people attended a standing-room-only memorial service here to show their opposition to the brutal killing of Gaither, a gay man beaten and burned to death in Sylacauga, Alabama, a few weeks ago.

On January 30 Birmingham police stopped Jonathan Thomas, 49, as he was walking home from a service station about 10:30 p.m. The cops had no legal justification for stopping Thomas, who worked at a nearby grocery store, but demanded to see his identification and forcing him to raise his hands in the air. The cops then beat him severely and maced his eyes and mouth, holding his eyes open as he resisted. They handcuffed Thomas so tight that he still has scars on his wrists. Doctors used seven staples to close a gash on the back of his head, and he still has blurred vision in his right eye from the attack.

Thomas, who is Black, was charged with trying to kill two police officers, supposedly while trying to take their weapons. He spent six weeks in jail. District judge Robert Cahill dismissed the charges against him after a preliminary hearing on March 8. County prosecutor Laura Petro acknowledged that the hearing revealed the charges against Thomas were based on "misinformation" from arresting officers. "Everybody testified differently," said Petro. "If he [Judge Cahill] hadn't dismissed it, I would have stood up and asked him to dismiss it," stated the prosecutor.

Thomas' lawyer, Erskine Mathis, himself a former policeman, said his client "had not done one thing except be Black and have to live in North Birmingham."

The north side of Birmingham is a mostly Black, working- class community where neighborhoods are interspersed among the rail yards, a steel and pipe mill, fabrication shops, and a coke plant. Socialist campaign supporters found residents in Thomas's neighborhood to be appalled by what happened and some related their own experiences with the cops.

"Mr. Thomas walked through here all the time, he would always offer to help people and never bother anyone. They just dragged that poor man off and beat him in that back yard over there. There were cop cars all over the place. It's time we let them know they can't do this to poor people anymore," commented one local resident who asked not to be named.

The eight cops involved-Deven Heathcock, Elliot Ingram, Patrick Green, Alvin Fortson, Kenneth Plemons, Anthony Clark, Ashanti McKinney, and F. Glasscock- remain on duty. The Birmingham Police Department says its Internal Affairs Division is "conducting an investigation into the events involving the victim."

Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Moody Duff boasts of the city's "zero-tolerance" and much touted "crime fighting" plan, patterned after that of New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, saying "Zero tolerance is a good plan, a good philosophy, a good policy. It's been instrumental with us reducing crime."

In response, Socialist candidate Blandford said, "Zero tolerance is just business as usual for the cops. As always, in reality it means the capitalists' government's zero tolerance for democratic rights and their scapegoating of Blacks, immigrants, and workers. From the gunning down of West African immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York to the rain of cop bullets that killed Tyisha Miller in Riverside, California, working people must organize to demand justice and stop these attacks."

Evan Roberts is a member of UAW Local 1155 and Stephen Bloodworth is a member of UTU Local 1291 in Birmingham.

 
 
 
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