Town attorney says police officers will not be disciplined in Denny's case
By TIM LOGAN
News Writer
Asserting that race was not a factor in the arrest of four black Notre Dame students at Denny's Diner on Sunday, Feb. 27, Roseland town attorney Peter Agostino firmly supported the two officers who made the arrests at the Roseland Town Council meeting Monday.
He said he had been investigating the incident for the past two weeks and recommended that no disciplinary action be taken against the officers, Joseph Andrews and Eugene Woofter, who were off-duty and working security at the restaurant. He said that his investigation was not complete, but that he had interviewed seven eyewitnesses who said the officers acted properly.
"Of the thirteen witnesses who have come forward all 13 have been supportive of the police officers," Agostino said. "None of the witnesses have indicated that any of the officers acted in any unprofessional manner or used any racist remarks or otherwise did anything that could in any way be misconstrued as racist."
The four arrested students did not attend the meeting, although they had been invited. Agostino also said he was still attempting to contact five students who were at the diner but not arrested. He was also trying to reach Lt. Robert Herron, a police officer at South Bend Regional Airport who was eating at Denny's at the time and assisted in the arrest.
St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Toth decided not to press charges on Tuesday, March 7, after reviewing a surveillance videotape showing the initial arrest, and, reportedly, after speaking with Herron, who is himself black.
Roseland officials have asked Toth to reconsider, saying that while the first arrest, of freshman Daly Barnes for disorderly conduct, may have been questionable, the other three were not. Those arrests occurred in the parking lot outside as the other students allegedly tried to prevent Daly's apprehension.
At the meeting, Agostino showed a second videotape, taken from a different angle in the restaurant, that shows the scuffle beginning as the officers and students were walking out the door of the restaurant to the parking lot.
"It clearly shows the interference with the initial arrest and I think supports the difference of opinion that we have with the prosecutor on that point," Agostino said.
Freshmen April Allen and Tiffany Johnson, both of whom spoke at a press conference on Wednesday, March 8, declined to comment on Agostino's findings. Barnes and junior Francesca Milles-Dave could not be reached.
There is still no clear picture of what happened outside the restaurant, when the three students were arrested, although one eyewitness who spoke at the meeting said two of the students attacked an officer. He saw the incident both inside the restaurant, and in the parking lot and said they were attacking the officers.
"They were all very rowdy," said the man, who declined to give his name. "It just got very out of hand when they all got outside."
Although the four did not attend and there were no representatives of the University present, the students did have some supporters.
Thomas Bush, of the South Bend Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, questioned both the validity of the arrest reports and the decision of Roseland to hire Andrews in the first place. The officer had worked briefly for the South Bend Police Department, but was dismissed after failing field training. He was approved for police work by the state of Indiana, according to Town Council members, however.
The two officers were fired by Denny's shortly after the incident, and the company sent a representative to the meeting to gather information.
At their press conference, Allen and Johnson said that they felt race was a factor in their arrest, charging that they would not have been approached in the diner's waiting area had they not been black.
Bush and some others at the meeting agreed, pointing to problems with racial profiling nationwide, but Town Council members and their supporters said that the skin color of the students and the officers was not an issue.
"I firmly believe that race did not play a part," Agostino said.
Agostino said he would continue investigating the matter. The Roseland Town Council has its next regularly scheduled meeting on April 13.
All News Stories for Wednesday, March 22, 2000
