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June 3, 1978, Saturday, Final Edition
Police Brutality Charge Probed by Grand Jury;
Grand Jury Probes Charge of Fairfax Police Brutality;
Fairfax Officers to Testify
BYLINE: By Jane Seaberry, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: Metro; C1
LENGTH: 718 words
A federal grand jury has begun an investigation into
allegations that three Fairfax County policemen needlessly beat a 16-year-old
youth they were arresting and that a county police trial board may have
attempted to cover up the incident.
The officers - one of whom was earlier exonerated by a
county police trial board composed entirely of police officer - have agreed to
appear voluntarily before the grand jury, county officials yesterday told a
federal judge in Alexandria.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank W. Dunham said the grand jury
"will not only focus on the conduct of these three officers, but the
conduct of the officers who reviewed" the incident. The jury is attempting
to determine "if the police trial board acted properly or swept it (the
incident) under the rug," Dunham said.
Disclosure of the grand jury investigation came yesterday
morning as lawyers for the county attempted to quash a subpeona for a
transcript of a statement that one of the officers made to the trial board. The
officer, Keith M. Florence, made the statement under a grant of immunity from
state prosecution and under a threat of losing his job, Jack Gould, assistant
Fairfax County attorney, told U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr.
Dunham said he did not know what Florence said in the
statement and that was why the government was attempting to obtain it by a
subpoena. The trial board's proceedings are closed and Fairfax police have
refused to release details of their internal investigation into the incident.
Bryan refused the county's request, but set limits on the
use of the statement in the investigation. Dunham had said that the statement
would be used only to check on the officers' testimony before the grand jury
and would not be used at any trial, if the officers are indicted.
The incident, which Gould said marks the first time federal
authorities have investigated the county police for their conduct, grows out of
the Jan. 6 arrest of Howard L. Cadle at roller skating rink in the Franconia
section of the county.
Witnesses to the arrest have said they saw policemen hit
Cadle repeatedly on the head and shoulders with their billy clubs. Lacy Cadle.
The youth's father, filed brutality charges against the three officers, but on
March. 29, Fairfax County Chief Col. Richard A. King dismissed the charges.
King said he accepted the decision of the trial board that
found that Florence did not use "excessive physical force" in
arresting Cadle. Brutality charges against the other two officers. Robert T.
Hubbard and James F. Kelly Jr., were dismissed without a trial board hearing
because of what King said was insufficient evidence.
All three officers are currently on duty on the Fairfax
County force.
The grand jury probe is itself an outgrowth of an FBI
investigation of the arrest, a Justice Department source said. It could not be
learned yesterday who initially requested the investigation.
A Justice Department official said that the department
receives between 12,000 and 15,000 complaints a year against police officers,
but that only about 80 of the complaints are taken before a grand jury. About
60 of the cases result in indictments, the official said.
The official said the federal investigation is being
conducted under the 1968 Civil Rights Act which makes officers who violated the
civil rights of an individual subject to a fine of up to $1,000 and a year in
jail.
"We're no different from any other police department in
the country," said Fairfax Chief King yesterday. The grand jury
investigation "of itself is not a conviction or a trial," he said.
Since King dismissed the brutality charges, Cadle's father
has filed a $20,000 damage suit against the officers in federal District Court.
In their answer to the suit, the officers denied Cadle's
version of the incident. They said in court papers, however, that "any
injury or damage suffered by" Cadle was caused by his "wrongful acts
and conduct and the willful resistance to a peace officer" in the
discharge of his duties.
The force used by the officers "if any . . . was reasonable
and necessary under the circumstances" and was caused by Cadle's assault
and battery on the officers, according to the court papers. Their actions were
lawful and in self-defense, the officers said.