Town Suspends Entire Police Force Over Brutatlity Claims 

Wednesday, October 13, 2004 at 12:51PM
TheSpook

The entire police department in Maysville has been suspended while the SBI looks into allegations of police brutality. The Jones County Sheriff's Department will pick up the slack while the investigation takes place. The Maysville town board decided in a 3-2 vote to suspend all four of the town's police officers without pay, pending a State Bureau of Investigation probe of an Oct. 1 incident in which two Maysville police officers on patrol were allegedly assaulted by a group of local men. A crowd of about 75 residents came to the meeting to express what some called long-simmering frustrations with the Maysville police force. Though representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Civil Rights Advocacy Association attended Thursday's meeting, many residents say that adding black officers won't improve matters. An altercation between Maysville police and town residents on Friday ended with an officer in the hospital and a suspect under arrest. Officers Carl Baugus Jr. and Michael Polley were patrolling when they found a crowd gathered near a stop sign, which was covered with a coat. According to Maysville Police Chief Michael Whaley, a man assaulted the officers as they tried to remove the coat. Others joined in the fight, which resulted in Polley being sprayed with Mace and possibly kicked in the head.[more ] and [more ] and [more ]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).