Post by WaTcHeR on Apr 13, 2006 8:12:47 GMT -5
04/12/2006 - SARASOTA -- Weeks after she witnessed a police officer punching a homeless man, a bank manager has come forward to contradict the police department's account of several details of the scuffle.
Sharon Riehemann said she ran across the bank's parking lot last month yelling for an officer to stop punching the homeless man, Chynyquy Calixte, who has a savings account at the RBC Centura Bank where she works.
The bank had been robbed several hours earlier.
A police department spokesman said that it was Riehemann who pointed Calixte out to officers as a possible suspect, which sparked his confrontation with police.
Riehemann said she knows Calixte and never suggested that he was a suspect -- one of several inconsistencies between what she says she saw and what police say happened.
Police spokesman Jay Frank said that the department cannot discuss the case because it is being investigated by internal affairs. But he stands by statements he made to the media.
"That was the information given to me by the sergeant that was there with her," Frank said.
Riehemann was not mentioned in the officers' report on the incident.
The robbery happened on March 24 about noon when a man walked into the bank with a note demanding money. Police searched but did not find the robber.
Riehemann said a man who owns a dry cleaning business a few doors down from the bank called her about 3 p.m., saying that he saw someone near the Publix on Bay Road matching the robber's description.
The dry cleaning business owner then called the police, she said.
Calixte was inside the bank at the time making a withdrawal, Riehemann said. She said she went outside to make sure the dry cleaner didn't mistake Calixte as the robber.
Riehemann said she knows Calixte well. He doesn't like to be around big groups of people, so he usually parks his bicycle outside and waits until the bank lobby is empty before entering, she said.
Calixte, 48, is schizophrenic, according to public defenders who have represented him in the past. He does not speak, and police have arrested him for resisting arrest without violence a half dozen times in the past.
Calixte has never caused a problem at the bank, Riehemann said. He just fills out deposit and withdrawl slips and hands them to the cashier.
"We call him C.C. because we can't pronounce his name," she said.
Sgt. Bob Gorevan was the first to arrive and asked the asked the dry cleaner about the suspect.
Calixte, who parks his bike in the alley behind the bank, was leaving when another officer, Alan Devaney, pulled up in his patrol car.
"I could not hear anything that was said, but there was no time," Riehemann said. "There were literally seconds from the time he pulled in, opened his door and tackled him. He didn't have a conversation with him. There was barely enough time for him to say, 'Hey, how you doing?' "
According to police reports, Devaney yelled repeatedly at Calixte, telling him to stop and get on the ground.
Devaney wrote in his report that Calixte refused, so he shot him with his Taser stun gun, which didn't work. Then Sgt. Gorevan stunned Calixte with his Taser stun gun. Devaney said Calixte fought the entire time and kept reaching near his waistband.
Riehemann said she ran to the officers, telling them to stop because they had the wrong guy.
"When I get there, C.C. is on his stomach handcuffed and (Devaney) still got one more punch in on him," Riehemann said.
Another person who witnessed the scuffle has also said officers attacked Calixte without provocation. Richard Sedlack, who works at the Yuppie Puppie dog grooming business, saw the incident through a window in front of the store.
Calixte was charged with resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon, after officers found an 8-inch steak knife in his belongings.
The day after his arrest, a judge ruled that there was no probable cause for the concealed weapon charge.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to press charges against Calixte.
After his arrest, Riehemann said, bank employees sent Calixte a card.
Sharon Riehemann said she ran across the bank's parking lot last month yelling for an officer to stop punching the homeless man, Chynyquy Calixte, who has a savings account at the RBC Centura Bank where she works.
The bank had been robbed several hours earlier.
A police department spokesman said that it was Riehemann who pointed Calixte out to officers as a possible suspect, which sparked his confrontation with police.
Riehemann said she knows Calixte and never suggested that he was a suspect -- one of several inconsistencies between what she says she saw and what police say happened.
Police spokesman Jay Frank said that the department cannot discuss the case because it is being investigated by internal affairs. But he stands by statements he made to the media.
"That was the information given to me by the sergeant that was there with her," Frank said.
Riehemann was not mentioned in the officers' report on the incident.
The robbery happened on March 24 about noon when a man walked into the bank with a note demanding money. Police searched but did not find the robber.
Riehemann said a man who owns a dry cleaning business a few doors down from the bank called her about 3 p.m., saying that he saw someone near the Publix on Bay Road matching the robber's description.
The dry cleaning business owner then called the police, she said.
Calixte was inside the bank at the time making a withdrawal, Riehemann said. She said she went outside to make sure the dry cleaner didn't mistake Calixte as the robber.
Riehemann said she knows Calixte well. He doesn't like to be around big groups of people, so he usually parks his bicycle outside and waits until the bank lobby is empty before entering, she said.
Calixte, 48, is schizophrenic, according to public defenders who have represented him in the past. He does not speak, and police have arrested him for resisting arrest without violence a half dozen times in the past.
Calixte has never caused a problem at the bank, Riehemann said. He just fills out deposit and withdrawl slips and hands them to the cashier.
"We call him C.C. because we can't pronounce his name," she said.
Sgt. Bob Gorevan was the first to arrive and asked the asked the dry cleaner about the suspect.
Calixte, who parks his bike in the alley behind the bank, was leaving when another officer, Alan Devaney, pulled up in his patrol car.
"I could not hear anything that was said, but there was no time," Riehemann said. "There were literally seconds from the time he pulled in, opened his door and tackled him. He didn't have a conversation with him. There was barely enough time for him to say, 'Hey, how you doing?' "
According to police reports, Devaney yelled repeatedly at Calixte, telling him to stop and get on the ground.
Devaney wrote in his report that Calixte refused, so he shot him with his Taser stun gun, which didn't work. Then Sgt. Gorevan stunned Calixte with his Taser stun gun. Devaney said Calixte fought the entire time and kept reaching near his waistband.
Riehemann said she ran to the officers, telling them to stop because they had the wrong guy.
"When I get there, C.C. is on his stomach handcuffed and (Devaney) still got one more punch in on him," Riehemann said.
Another person who witnessed the scuffle has also said officers attacked Calixte without provocation. Richard Sedlack, who works at the Yuppie Puppie dog grooming business, saw the incident through a window in front of the store.
Calixte was charged with resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon, after officers found an 8-inch steak knife in his belongings.
The day after his arrest, a judge ruled that there was no probable cause for the concealed weapon charge.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to press charges against Calixte.
After his arrest, Riehemann said, bank employees sent Calixte a card.