[Dryerase] Allegations of racial profiling, brutality against APD

[Asheville Global Report]

Allegations of racial profiling, brutality against APD

By Shawn Gaynor

Asheville, North Carolina, Aug. 5 (AGR)— Two African-American Asheville 
residents, Khalid Saadiq and Ismael Hassan, both 31 years old, are voicing 
allegations of police brutality and racial profiling over an incident on 
the night of Sunday, July 21.
The two say Hassan was beaten by two white Asheville police officers, and a 
videotape of the incident supports their claim.  Saadiq is a former 
Asheville police officer and Hassan is a current youth corrections officer.
These allegations come at a time of heightened national awareness of police 
brutality due to the recent events in Inglewood, California and Oklahoma City.
According to Mr. Hassan the two friends were returning home from their 
place of worship, along with his 5-year-old son Elijah.  Upon arriving at 
Hassan’s home on Blanton St., an Asheville Police Department (APD) cruiser 
pulled up in front of the house and turned on its lights.  According to 
Saadiq, by this time the three were on the front lawn.
Saadiq said the officers told them to get back in the car, approaching the 
two men on the lawn.  Saadiq began asking for what reason they are been 
detained, and at this point officer Breneman grabbed him.
“I told him that I did this [police work] for seven years, that he didn’t 
know what he was doing. I told him to take his hands off of me, that I was 
not resisting [arrest], and that’s when he dropped his hands, turned me 
around and handcuffed me.” said Saadiq.
Witnessing Saadiq’s arrest, Hassan, wearing his Swannanoa Youth Corrections 
Officer uniform, approached Breneman.
“I dropped my son off at the porch and told him to ring the doorbell.  Then 
I walked back up in a calm manner and asked ‘what’s up, what’s the deal,’ 
and that’s when he [officer Maltby] pepper-sprayed me twice,” said Hassan.
“From there I turned around with my back to the officers and squatted 
down.  Maltby ordered me to go prone, and I did.  He started to bring my 
arm back to cuff me and he twisted it the wrong way.  I say ‘you’re 
breaking my arm’ and he started to beat me.”  Breneman, who had just 
finished loading up Khalid into the car returned and joined in, Hassan said.
A neighbor from across the street, alerted by the police lights, grabbed 
his camera and began to videotape.
The tape begins as Breneman is closing the door of the car with Saadiq in 
the cruiser.  All appears calm.  Then, without any discernible verbal 
orders on the part of the officer, or verbal resistance from Hassan, a 
physical confrontation can be heard breaking out in the yard.  Several 
blows can be heard on the videotape.
“You stop hitting him! You stop hitting him,” pleads Hassan’s sobbing 
mother, rushing onto the lawn.
As the camera comes across the street and gains a clear view of Hassan’s 
lawn, both Breneman and Maltby can be seen on top of Hassan, who is prone 
on his stomach.  Maltby knees Hassan in the back, and strikes him.
“I’m not resisting arrest,” says Hassan, “this is my lawn.”
Then Hassan gives his hands to Maltby to be cuffed.
The evidence of the beating can be seen on the back of Hassan’s youth 
corrections uniform shirt: knuckle marks in blood.
“They hit me repeatedly with quick punches to the head and back, Maltby 
kneed me in the back,” Hassan said.  “When they were hitting me Breneman 
cut his hand.”
On the tape, Breneman can be seen coddling his injured hands as he gets up 
off the now cuffed Hassan.
“You don’t hit him any more.  He’s in cuffs, don’t you hit him anymore,” 
says Hassan’s brother Isaac, who had also come out onto the lawn.
Then for the first time Maltby calls in the incident
as a traffic stop.
Other officers arrive and officer Eberthart opens the back door to the 
cruiser after recognizing Saadiq, his former colleague, in the back seat.
“‘What are you doing in here,’ he asks me.  That’s exactly what I want to 
know,” recalled Saadiq.
The officers huddle, and begin treating Hassan for pepper spray.  Hassan is 
then taken from the site to the hospital, examined, and then taken to the 
county jail where he and Saadiq are booked.
Why the two were initially stopped by police is still a matter of 
disagreement.  On Hassan’s arrest record he is charged with being stopped 
for running a red light on Coxe Ave.
“I never ran a red light,” Hassan said. “He claims that we ran a light on 
Coxe but we never came that route.”
Both men assert they were stopped only because of the color of their skin.
“They could have simply avoided this by calling in our tag, or they just 
could have answered the question when we asked,” said Saadiq.  “We asked 
them ‘why do you want us to get back in the car. We haven’t done anything 
wrong.’  They could have said we want you to get back in the car because of 
whatever.  It’s that simple — if they had a reason.  They didn’t have a 
reason, that’s why they didn’t say anything.  In my estimation, they see 
two black faces in a halfway decent-looking car with rims and they figure 
we’re drug dealers or whatever and they’re gonna make a quick name for 
themselves by busting us.  If they violate rules and go against procedure, 
and violate laws, it’s OK because we’re two ‘niggers’ and who’s gonna 
believe us over two white police officers, and that’s what took place.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Saadiq continued, “there are a lot of good officers 
out there.  There are a lot of guys who are professional
 but then you have 
those who think you’re nothing, and ‘I’ll do what the hell I want to do 
because I’m the police and I can’.”
Saadiq said that because of a recent change in Asheville Police Department 
policy in regards to officer training, both officers Maltby and Beneman 
were relatively inexperienced.  It was previously required that an officer 
have three years minimum service to train a rookie officer.  That limit has 
been reduced to one year of service, leaving rookies to train rookies, 
Saadiq said.
Asheville Police Chief Will Annarino said an internal investigation of the 
incident is being conducted. While the investigation is pending, Annarino 
said he would not answer any questions.
Hassan has been charged with running a red light, improper right turn, 
disorderly conduct, assaulting a government official, and resisting 
arrest.  Saadiq is facing a single charge of resisting a public officer, a 
misdemeanor.
They are due to appear in court on Aug. 19.  Both men say they have no 
previous criminal record.
The two men have begun circulating a petition demanding their charges be 
dropped and the APD reformed.