Defense of Deputy in Columbus, Ga. Slaying Challenged
Date: Thursday, March 04, 2004
By: PATRICIA NEWMAN BlackAmericaWeb.com
The attorney for the former Muscogee County Sheriff’s Deputy who shot and killed an unarmed Columbus, Ga. man said the victim's involvement with illegal drugs led to his death.
During a press conference last week, Attorney Richard C. Hagler came to the defense of Deputy David Glisson and blamed the shooting on Kenneth Walker's own actions, not Glisson's. In a prepared statement Hagler said:
"The entire incident has been portrayed to the public as an incident which arose out of racial profiling. This portrayal is a fundamental lie, which has resulted in great prejudice and political pressure against my client.
”The undeniable fact is that Mr. Walker placed himself in a situation that night through his own illegal conduct which ultimately resulted in his death."
On Dec. 10, Glisson fatally shot Walker following a stop along Interstate 185. Before the stop, Walker and friends Warren Beulah, Anthony Smith and Daryl Ransom, were riding in a gray GMC Yukon seen leaving an apartment. According to official reports, the apartment was under surveillance by Metro Narcotics Task Force agents.
Bill Campbell, lead attorney for Walker's family, said allegations of Walker using cocaine were totally out of his character.
"We have yet to find a single colleague, friend, co-worker or family member that has ever had any knowledge of Kenneth using drugs," Campbell told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Hagler's statement said Walker's family was in denial about his drug use and the results of the autopsy report that show he had traces of alcohol and cocaine in his blood.
"Without any evidence to support their allegations,” said Hagler, “the family of Kenneth Walker now seeks to perpetrate another lie by alleging the autopsy report and toxicology reports have been mysteriously altered."
"We never said that,” Campbell, speaking on behalf of the family, fired back. “What we said is what we affirmed all along. Several days after the killing, the family was told that drug and alcohol tests had come back negative."
Despite the results of the toxicology report, Campbell said nothing changes the facts of what happened that night on the interstate.
"It was a cold-blooded killing," he said.
Hagler said he broke his silence after Glisson was fired and Walker's family filed a $100-million wrongful death lawsuit.
"It was our intent to let the investigation run its course," said Hagler. "We reserved saying anything earlier, but because of the firing and the allegations made during the news conference, we felt like we had to respond."
Sheriff Ralph Johnson fired Glisson, said Hagler, because of political pressure.
Capt. Gary McCrea of the Muscogee County Sheriff's Department said it wasn't political pressure that led to Glisson’s termination.
"Obviously during the course of our administrative investigation we found sufficient concern that we felt his termination was warranted," he said, "considering when you have an administrative investigation it focuses on police procedure and training."
Another Hagler accusation is that one of Walker's friends carried a suspicious package into the apartment that night.
"We believe the evidence will ultimately reveal the package was a delivery of cocaine," read the statement. "We also believe the evidence will show that at least one or more of the four occupants of the SUV used cocaine while in the apartment."
Dwayne L. Brown, the Montgomery, Ala. attorney representing the three men in the vehicle with Walker, said the package was a DVD player.
"My clients got out of the car with an unwrapped DVD player," said Brown. "This was known that night. That is why they have not been charged with any illegal narcotic and will not be charged. There was no illegal contraband discovered in the vehicle in which they occupied."
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