Allegations of Brutality Investigated, April 21, 2005 by Donna McCollum
Cherokee County, TX:
The NAACP is interested in John Brown's story. The Alto man's account of alleged police brutality begins when he heard family dogs barking on the dark night of April 11. "I thought somebody was stealing and when I got up on the person it was the police," recalled Brown with NAACP representative John Morrison closely listening.
Actually it was Cherokee County Sgt. Jamie Beene, a 10-year veteran with the sheriff's department. Sgt. Beene was in Brown's neighborhood chasing a drug suspect.
Brown said, "I seen the gun like this right here and he told me to put my hands up and I was terrified because I thought he was going to shoot me because I just ran up on him like that."
Brown described how he was arrested in front of his uncle's trailer where he was handcuffed and taken down a long driveway where he was allegedly beaten. "He told me to get down on my knees and I was attempting to get down on my knees and he kicked me and broke my ankle, just started kicking me."
Brown's father, a stroke victim in a wheelchair said he begged the officer to stop while feeling more helpless than his son. John Skinner cried as he recalled the night. "He kept doing it and he told me to shut up and go back in the house and I told him, 'I'm not going nowhere as long as he's kicking my son.'"
Nacogdoches NAACP spokesman John Morrison said, "Something just don't add up and to me it's totally a case of police brutality."
Shortly after the organization was contacted by Brown the request for an investigation by the Texas Rangers was submitted by authorities. Brown said, "I left messages on his [Texas Ranger Rudy Flores] answering machine for almost a week and then when the NAACP got involved here they come calling me."
Brown may be charged with assaulting a public servant, something difficult for him to understand with three plates and 16 pins in his leg. His injuries required surgery. He was taken to a hospital by an ambulance called by Alto police.
Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell and District Attorney Elmer Beckworth are declining interviews about this case until after the investigation. In previous reports Campbell denies any wrongdoing by his sergeant in this incident. By phone the D.A. said the evidence will be placed before the grand jury in the coming weeks.
(Source: KTRE )
Alto, TX:
Cherokee County's Sheriff Department faced another civil rights lawsuit after Deputy Jamie Beene broke the ankle of former Alto high school football player John Brown for no legal reason.
Brown lives in the small town of Alto, and unfortunately was born black in East Texas. With nothing better to do on a quiet Spring night in the piney woods, Officer Jamie Beene spotlighted the property of John Brown's grandfather, ostensibly viewing an ongoing drug deal on the side of the road.
Even Sheriff James Campbell stands by his deputy's strange story, that John Brown was evading arrest, even though he was knocked down, handcuffed and bound, then his ankle shattered (requiring 3 plates and 16 pins).
Whodunit?:
Cherokee County's rising star Officer James Q. "Jamie" Beene, then patrolling the pocket change drug dealers in a rural area south of Alto, TX called the "Dope Tree." No mention of the fact that officer Beene was trespassing on private property. I guess the drug dealers went inside for a snack. Cherokee County District Attorney Elmer Beckworth offered to charge John Brown with something, like interfering with an "official investigation" according to the aforementioned news article. Sheriff Campbell repeated the story that Brown somehow "attacked" his deputy, even though Brown was hogtied at gunpoint. Elmer Beckworth offers no comment, and no real investigation, a' la his handling of Jennifer Hester being run down in her apartment complex.
The FACTS:
Officer Jamie Beene traveled out of his jurisdiction to the home of John Brown about 2 km south of Alto, TX. After seeing trespassers on his property in the middle of the night, John Brown goes out to check on his dogs. He was then jumped, handcuffed and beaten by officer Jamie Beene, along with members of Alto P.D. about 2 km out of Alto, TX jurisdiction, according to the news articles. John Brown's ankle was broken in the process. Why? What was the motive for this obvious racially motivated attack? Was it that his adjudicated probation was winding down?
Officer Jamie Beene has since been promoted to Deputy Sargent, in Cherokee County Sheriff's so-called Narcotics Division. As of June 11, 2007 James Q. Beene is a Reserve Cherokee County Deputy by Commissioner Court approval. The Texas Rangers were called to "investigate" the beating of John Brown.
Instead of a reprimand, Officer Beene can pursue a fine career in Cherokee County. Officer Beene and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department are facing civil rights violation suits filed in Marshall, TX by the Brown family (at the time of writing). Local Cherokee County media refuses to publish the contents of the suit. Instead the Jacksonville Daily Progress promoted the narco-wonder cops by publishing the seizure of 4 "blunts" and 1 oz. of marijuana. Still waiting to be impressed? They also have the glorious pastime of monitoring the dank rooms at the Trade Winds Motel in Jacksonville, TX.
The brutal beating of John Brown by Alto P.D. was also reported by The BrownWatch: News for people of color. Ice Cube gets his fact skewed in this expose but the gist is the same. Beat a black guy up, break his legs while he's hogtied, then charge him for evading arrest. That is the heart and soul of Cherokee County, read it for yourselves.
As a footnote, the Tyler Paper reports on March 29, 2007 that Sgt. Beene has been cleared of the brutality claims. Read the article carefully:
"(Sgt.) Beene was on the property searching for a suspect unrelated to their case and arrested (John) Brown on a charge of interfering with a police investigation. During the arrest, Brown said, his ankle was broken and he was beaten. Several witnesses' statements matched Brown's."
Same article Cherokee County Sheriff James Campbell says:
Officer "Beene was at a high drug trafficking area enforcing the law when Mr. Brown came onto the scene and interfered with his (Sgt. Beene's) job..."
So, according to the federal jury in Marshall, TX and Sheriff James Campbell, if get your ankle broke after being hogtied, because you have the audacity to confront a trespassing Cherokee County deputy, you deserve it. And the best thing to do is stay in your house like a frightened country Negro when you see the spotlights going across your property. Especially if you are black and you own property near a suspected drug drop. And expect to have every single phone call to and from your house to be tape recorded illegally forever.
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