The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 16, 1992- Page 7
Officers charged
in Green
DETROIT (AP) - Two police
officers were charged yesterday with
murder and one with manslaughter in
the beating of motorist Malice Green.
A fourth officer was charged with
assault with intent to do great bodily
harm. Three other officers who also
had been suspended after the Nov. 5
beating were not charged.
"I feel justice is done.... I think
they handled it very well," said the
victim's father, Jessie Green Jr.
"He's dead, andanychargesaren't
going to bring him back. I got to live
on."
Malice Green, who was black, died
of head injuries after being beaten on
a street near a suspected drug house.
Officers Larry Nevers and Walter
Budzyn were charged with second-
degree murder and can get sentenced
to life in prison if convicted.
Sgt. Freddie Douglas was charged
with involuntary manslaughter, which
carries amaximum 15-year sentence,
and willful neglect of duty, a misde-
meanor punishable by one year im-
prisonment. The ranking officer on
the scene, Douglas was accused of
failing to try to stop the beating.
"He certainly is in a more difficult
position because he's got supervisory
duties," said Douglas' attorney,
Armand Bove. "And when you have
a scene out on the street with police
officers and a supervising sergeant,
that supervising sergeant certainly
beating
takes the brunt of responsibility."
The four were arraigned before De-
troit District Judge Willie G. Lipscomb
Jr. as about a dozen people gathered at
the site of the beating to urge justice.
The Rev. Edward Collins of God's
Word Tabernacle thought the charges
were too lenient, but he urged for no
violent protest.
"There will be no violence," he told
demonstrators. "We're not looking for
violence. We're not burning our busi-
nesses. We're not burning our stores."
Tye Hull of Detroit said citizens
would wait for a trial outcome.
"But if the system fails, the city will
erupt," he warned. "This is a pressure
cooker. People here don't have a lot of
hope. They're going to feel they have
nothing to lose."
Detroit Police Officer David
Malhalab said the officers involved in
the beating have already been "tried,
convicted and found guilty" by the
mayor and the .media.
"What you will find is that the offic-
ers are victims of a department that has
failed in its responsibility to provide
adequate training, supervision and
equipment," Malhalab said.
While the beating of an unarmed
motorist drew parallels to the Los An-
geles case involving King, NAACP
officials have said the Detroit case is
different. They credited quick action by
Police Chief Stanley Knox in suspend-
ing the officers allegedly involved.
Tales from vets
may help locate
MIAs in Vietnam
Detroit Police Officer Larry Nevers and police Sgt. Freddie Douglas listen to
charges against them during their arraignment in Detroit yesterd ay.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP)-War sto-_
ries of Vietnamese veterans who fought
the Americans could provide important
clues to help resolve the fate of the
2,265 U.S. service members missing
and still unaccounted for in Indochina.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), leading
a team of three senators from the Select
Committee on POW-MIA Affairs,
asked Vietnamese officials if Pentagon
researchers could attend the first meet-
ing of a veterans' association to gather
oral histories that might shed light on.
the missing.
"That would be a very historic be-
ginning of a soldier-to-soldier process
of answering questions," said Kerry,
who served a tour of duty in 1968-69 as
a navy officer on a gunboat in the
Mekong Delta.
Vietnamese officials with the group
applauded the idea of collecting such
oral histories, but said they would have
to consult with other officials.
Kerry and Sens. Tom Daschle, (D-
S.D.),and Hank Brown, (R-Colo.), yes-
terday began a three-day visit to Hanoi
with a promise from Deputy Foreign
Minister Le Mai to get the "clearest
possible answers" to any questions they
raised.
Kerry said he canied a letter from
President Bush to the Hanoi leadership.
Although he would not disclose its con-
tents, he said it was a "sign of the
importance of direct contact to get this
matter resolved."
Although Kerry did not speculate on
low quickly normalization could pro-
ceed, he said he had been told that if
cooperation on the MIA issue was forth-
coming, Bush would want to recipro-
cate.
Kerry suggested that facilitating an
end to the embargo could ease the way
for looking into the MIA issue.
The senators helda21/2-hourmeet-
ing yesterday with officials of the Viet-
nam Office Seeking Missing Persons,
an interagency organization dealing with
the question of the missing.
At the meeting, which was open to
reporters, the senators sought answers
to questions about specific MIA cases
and explanations of Vietnamese failure
to provide certain information.
When asked why it was difficult to
find the remains of sOme Americans
whom witnesses said died in captivity,
Dich said, "When you have people who
were maybe buried along the trail, in
transit, in a wartime situation, can you
remember where you buried them? And
maybe the person who buried him is
dead now"~
Dich turned over a dossier of 46
cases in which the Senate committee
took a particular interest. He said the
report was a compilation of information
gathered during 20 "joint field activi-
ties" undertaken with U.S. searchers
inside Vietnam.
Mayor Coleman Young publicly de-
nounced the beating.
Knox has said he did not believe the
beating was racially motivated, and
Wayne County Prosecutor John 0' Hair
said yesterday that no witnesses re-
portedhearing racial epithets during the
beating.
Detroit is known for its integrated
police force. Fifty-eight percent of the
3,850-member force is black in a city
that is 75 percent black.
Knox suspended seven officers Nov.
6, the day after Green's death. 0'-lair
said there was too little evidence to
charge the other three officers.
Suspensions will continue indefi-
nitely for the three officers who don't
face criminal charges, police Sgt.
Christopher Buck said.
Jack Gravely, National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People national director of special
projects, said Sunday that quick ac-
tion by Detroit officials headed off
violence like that in Los Angeles.
"What is different in Detroit is the
leadership," Gravely said.
"When we compare what hap-
pened in Detroit with what happened
on the other coast, it does make a
difference. Without it, this city prob-
ably would still be burning at its walls
today."
Detroit-area NAACP president to step down
DETROIT (AP) -The president of
the NAACP's Detroit branch will step
down at the end of the year to devote
more time to his newly expanded posi-
tion at Wayne State University.
Arthur Johnson, who has served as
president of the civil rights group since
1986, saidhe won'tseekre-election.He
is a senior vice president at the Detroit
university.
"I must tell you, I really didn't want
toquit,"JohnsonsaidSunday atamem-
bership meeting of the National Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Colored
People. "I wanted to keep serving the
branch, so I'm leaving with mixed feel-
ings."
The two men vying to replace.
Johnson aspresidentare Charles Boyce,
vicepresidentof urban affairs forMichi-
gan Bell Co., and the Rev. Wendell
Anthony, pastor of the Fellowship
Chapel.
Because of Malice Green's beating
death at the hands of Detroit police
earlier this month, Johnson said it was
all the more difficult to step down.
Charges were brought yesterday
against four of seven officers suspended
from thepolice forceafter Green's death.
"We want to see justice done ...
punishment for the wrongdoing," he
said. "I feel it will happen."
Johnson isn't severing his 42-year
ties with the NAACP; he is running for
a seat on the organization's executive
board on the Unity Action slate.
Duringhispresidency, Johnson filed
a lawsuit accusing auto insurers of dis-
crimination inrate-setting and launched
a campaign encouraging Detroit resi-
dents to buy goods in Detroit.
His efforts have been heralded by
his colleagues.
"Dr. Johnson has been a magnifi-
cent president," NAACP Executive
Director Joann Watson said. "His im-
portance cannot be measured in words.
He has shown a great sense of lifelong
commitment, both personally and pro-
fessionally, with strong words and ad-
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