Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Rodney Monroe is defending the actions of a now-suspended officer during a September incident with a man at a Ballantyne-area bank, saying police felt threatened.
Monroe was responding to complaints from the attorney representing Thomas Huminik, who says he was roughed up by two CMPD officers, including David Estele Jones, outside the SunTrust Bank on Rea Road on Sept. 27.
Jones since has been suspended and recommended for termination in connection with a Dec. 7 incident in which he is accused of assaulting a man involved in a collision with Jones' mother.
But in the September incident, Monroe says an investigation supports Jones and fellow Officer Jason Guy.
Both sides agree the problem began when Huminik and his wife got into an argument in the bank. The two are going through a separation, and Huminik's attorney, Brad Smith, says his client's financial attorney had advised him to withdraw money from their joint checking account.
Monroe says a 911 call was made from the bank by a woman who said "she was fearful of her husband Thomas Huminik." Monroe said that in the call, the woman alleged domestic violence by Huminik and said he felt threatened by him. Bank employees moved the woman to a private room in the bank, from where the woman called for police.
Smith said police should not have been involved in what was a domestic dispute, but Monroe contends officers wanted to talk with Huminik about his wife's "domestic violence allegations."
The two officers and Huminik walked outside the bank.
Surveillance video from the bank shows Huminik walking out of the lobby with the officers and appears to show officers wrestling with Huminik. Smith says his client was thrown to the ground twice, punched, and pushed against the wall of the bank. Police papers filed in the case allege Huminik, who is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 260 pounds, made a fist before the confrontation with the officers.
But Smith said his client was not in police custody and tried to walk away.
"It's difficult to see how someone threatened a police officer when he's seen on the video exiting and leaving the situation," Smith said. "There was a discussion in the bank that my client walked away from. Mr. Huminik had not committed any criminal offense."
Monroe paints a different picture. He says officers ordered Huminik to stop walking away and answer their questions. At that point, the chief says, Huminik approached Guy with "his hands balled into fists and jaw clenched."
A few minutes later, Monroe says, Huminik tried to go back inside the bank and bumped into Guy, then cocked his right arm back "as if he was going to strike them."
Monroe says the two officers then attempted to "get Mr. Huminik to the ground and in custody, as Huminik continued to violently struggle in an attempt to get back on his feet."
Jones managed to get his radio and call for help, and a third officer arrived a short time later, Monroe says. Huminik was charged with assaulting the police officers and with communicating threats and resisting arrest.
Monroe says several witnesses supported the CMPD officers' account of what happened at the bank.
And he says the allegations against the two officers hurt the department.
"When unfounded allegations are directed at our organization, it tarnishes the confidence and trust that we have built with our citizens," Monroe says.
All of this happened about 10 weeks before the second incident involving Officer Jones.
Rick McVicker said his head was slammed to the ground by Jones after McVicker rear-ended Jones' mother's car on Sardis Road in Matthews. McVicker was charged with DWI in that case, and Jones' mother contends she felt threatened by McVicker. Jones was off duty and not in uniform at the time.
Since CMPD's decision to suspend Jones and recommend him for termination, the charges against Huminik were dropped by the district attorney's office.
Bruce Lillie, the assistant district attorney who oversees prosecutors who handle misdemeanors and traffic violations, said as many as 50 cases that Jones worked on could be at issue. Those cases won't automatically be dropped, like Huminik's. Prosecutors are reviewing them to evaluate the strength of other evidence.
Jones' attorney, George Laughrun, declined to comment on the Huminik case. He said Jones has appealed his termination though the Civil Service Board, which reviews firings. The board has not set a hearing date for the case.
Copyright 2012 - The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
