Police chief on leave after confederate statue charges

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Sep. 4, 2020
Updated: Sep. 4, 2020 5:37 p.m.

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — The police chief in Portsmouth, Virginia, is on paid leave nearly three weeks after her department charged a state senator and several others from the city's Black community with conspiring to a damage a Confederate monument.

City spokeswoman Dana Woodson confirmed in an email on Friday that Chief Angela Greene is on leave and that an assistant police chief will assume her duties in the meantime.

Allies of State Sen. Louise Lucas in Richmond have called the felony charges against her legally weak and political. The case is based on words that police say Lucas spoke in the hours before protesters ripped heads off Confederate statues and pulled one down, critically injuring a demonstrator.

Some legal observers say that Lucas' alleged statements are protected speech. The charges were filed without the cooperation of the local prosecutor's office. And they were issued the day before state lawmakers met to work on police reforms, including ones that Lucas — a high ranking-Democrat — has championed.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Police-chief-on-leave-after-confederate-statue-15544117.php

[stillcool]

1. sounds like might be good news...

but the charges weren't dropped, and the so-called-chief is on leave.

[paleotn]

3. That's fine.

Any attorney worth half their salt would be like....bring it.

[paleotn]

2. Local prosecutors....

" we ain't touching that one. " Obvious free speech issue. And an epic fail on the part of Portsmouth police.

[ornotna]

4. Angela Greene got the job after they forced the prior Chief to resign

“I can assure you that I did not ‘quit’ on the citizens of Portsmouth. My mother did not raise me to be a quitter,” wrote the former Portsmouth police chief, Tonya Chapman. “She raised me to be a strong woman. As such, my resignation was not tendered under my own volition. This was a forced resignation and our City Manager was the conduit.”

https://2urbangirls.com/virginias-first-black-female-police-chief-says-she-was-forced-to-resign/

[ret5hd]

5. Paid leave, AKA vacation.

[SharonClark]

6. Sounds like a crime movie of the week - Cop with a grudge runs amuck

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/angela-greene-portsmouth-police_n_5f525b06c5b62b3add3fc3ab is worth reading.

Portsmouth Chief Angela Greene allowed a police sergeant with a grudge to bring felony charges against a state senator, civil rights leaders and public defenders.
. . .
The city manager of Portsmouth, Virginia, ousted the city’s police chief on Friday, weeks after the chief announced highly unusual felony charges against a sitting state senator, local civil rights leaders and city public defenders in connection with the destruction of a Confederate monument.

Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene allowed Sergeant Kevin McGee to bring the felony charges against Virginia Sen. Louise Lucas (D), NAACP officials, and others under a 70-year-old state law that allows for felony charges involving “injury to” Confederate monuments. She did so despite the fact that she had referred McGee to internal affairs after he wrote a vitriolic letter criticizing Lucas and several of the other defendants he’d later charge. . . .

Greene had replaced former Portsmouth Police Chief Tonya Chapman, who was Virginia’s first Black female police chief and was pushed out last year. After her forced departure, Chapman said that she’d never encountered the degree of racial bias that she saw in Portsmouth. Greene is also Black, but has gathered the support of a largely white group of Portsmouth residents, particularly after she announced that charges against Lucas and other local Black leaders. Sources who know McGee told HuffPost that he was one of Chapman’s most prominent detractors, and pushed his local Fraternal Order of Police to take a vote of no confidence in her. . . .

McGee had also attempted to sideline the city’s elected prosecutor, Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales, by naming her as a suspect in the case, despite the fact that she wasn’t on the scene. . . .

Lucas’ daughter Lisa Lucas-Burke, who serves as Portsmouth’s vice mayor, is facing misdemeanor charges after a Portsmouth resident alleged that her calls for Greene’s dismissal violated an obscure city statute. Virginia’s magistrate system, which allowed McGee to obtain felony warrants without the approval of an actual prosecutor, also allows citizens to bring charges against officials in some cases.

[pecosbob]

7. Okay...so protestor politician gets charged with felony for inciting violence?

You Repubs really sure you want to go down that road? I have a pretty long list of Rs that should go to jail for that very thing.

[Nitram]

8. Good news.