July fracas in Kill Devil Hills escalates to allegations of police brutality
Court cases scheduled for September
From OBX Alert, Aug. 12, 2008 www.obxalert.com
The way Kimberly Lane of Duck describes her family‟s “worst nightmare” at the Port O‟ Call Restaurant & Gaslight Saloon in Kill Devil Hills last month is not the same story told by police officers who responded to a riot. Nor is it what Manteo Magistrate Edward J. Duniigan determined in sending Lane, her husband, niece, and newly wed son-in-law to jail with bonds of $50,000 each on various charges of disruptive behavior, public intoxication, striking an officer and resisting arrest. None of the charges are true according to Lane who says witnesses will vouch for that. Further, she says in a 16-page letter she recently sent to 25 town and county officials, “The officers that I have always respected and looked to for our welfare are now the group of people that I fear as much as murderers, rapist (sic) and hardened criminals.” She is concerned, she wrote, “not only for the safety and welfare of my family, but the safety and welfare of the residents and tourists who reside in and visit the Outer Banks.” On July 1, Lane and her husband, William Joe Lane, who own real estate and construction companies in Kill Devil Hills, spent $1,600 in hiring a stretch limousine capable of comfortably seating a party of 20 to celebrate their daughter‟s 21st birthday. About 11:30 that evening, they stopped at the Port O‟ Call. There was, in Lane‟s words, “a minor confrontation of the dance floor” involving a member of her party and another young man. Both were escorted out of the building. Lane went outside to check on her guest but says that in attempting to return, to tell her family it was time leave, she was accosted by three Port O‟ Call bouncers, one of whom forced his body against her and repeatedly said, “I dare you to hit me.” She apparently pushed, or perhaps slapped the young man, and on seeing this a Dare County deputy, the first officer on the scene, threw Lane to the ground, face
down, she says, in attempting to arrest and handcuff her. “While I was on the ground, face down, with my hands behind my back, the officer took out a can of pepper spray, reached around in front of my face and sprayed my face and eyes in a circular motion over and over.” In short, a large crowd gathered and as police attempted to restore order, Lane‟s niece went to the ground and was handcuffed while “crying hysterically and screaming for help;” her husband suffered a gash in his head when thrown to the pavement and handcuffed, and her new son-in-law was tasered. Jail house photographs do little to bolster Kimberly Lane‟s account of what happened to the two women. Here are the „mug shots‟ of Lane and her three family
members, taken in the early hours of July 2 when they were booked at the Dare County Jail. Left to right, Lane; her niece, Melissa Chapman; Lane‟s husband, William Joe Lane, and the Lane‟s son-in-law, Matthew Carey Koplen. Incident reports show that the two women were arrested by county deputies; the two men by Kill Devil Hills police officers. OBX Alert attempted to reach Kimberly Lane in person at her office and by phone at home but without success. New Kill Devil Hills Police Chief, Gary Britt, who was on top of the story even though the events alleged occurred two weeks before he took office, told us the case is being reviewed at his direction by Lt. Gene Johnson, head of the town‟s Criminal Investigation Division. As a matter of general policy, Britt said, “We‟re going to be transparent. No favorites. If any of my police officers are accused of something, it will be investigated.” He stressed, however, that in this case none of his officers is being investigated because there have been no allegations of misconduct or excessive force against any of them. The Lane‟s attorney, Robert Trivette, said he saw a draft of Mrs. Lane‟s widely distributed letter to town and county authorities “but I wasn‟t informed it was going to be sent.” Otherwise, he said, “I can‟t comment, it‟s a criminal matter.” Dare County Sheriff Rodney Midgett said of the conflicting accounts of what happened at the Port O‟ Call on July 1-2, “The place to decide guilt or innocence is in court. I‟m waiting to see what people say under oath, not in 16-page letters.”
William Joe Lane‟s District Court case is scheduled for this Friday, Aug. 15, but is expected to be continued. Wife Kimberly‟s court date is the 28th of this month. For a preview of her likely testimony, see her letter dated Aug. 5. (www.docstoc.com/docs/1078036/Kimberly-Lane-Assertions---5-Aug-08) (Note: All four cases have since been reset for September 26 in District Court.) ~