Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-04
D. C. Officers Charged With
"Strong-Arm Tactics" in
Making Arrests.
BREAK IN DOOR OF HOME
SEEKING YOUTH, HE SAYS
Forced to Walk Barefooted in
Night Clothing to Patrol Box
After Being Hit, Father Says.

will be laid before Chairman Gibson
of the House District committee. thi
week as the outgrowth of arrests mad
by police last Saturday morning in tn
home of William F. Carpenter, 491 +
street southwest.
According to neighbors and member
of the family, IL policemen came II
the Carpenter home at 1880 Satur
day and knocked on the front door
They were seeking to arrest Carpenter
2l-year-old son on larceny charge.
Carpenter came to window on tn
second floor and asked the officers wha
they wanted They are said to have
answered with a peremptory demand
that he come down and open the door
CARPENTER said he asked them if they
had a warrant, explaining that his at
torney had advised him not to let any
policemen in the house unless they ex'
hibited warrant.
NeighbOrs Saw Door Broken.
The officers are said to have answered
that it was none OF his business whether
or not they had a warrant, and thai
they didn't need one, anyhow. Aftel
receiving this answer, Carpenter said
he refused to admit them.
Attracted by the noise and alleged
profanity used by the policemen. neigh.
bors came to their windows in time
thev said. to see several officers rush
the door. breaking it down on the first
attempt.
AS the policemen entered the house,
Carpenter ran downstairs in his night
clothes and met them at the loot OF
the landing.
Il was trying to explain that my at
forney had made arrangements Win
detective headquarters TO produce my
son any time he was wanted, and that
this arrangement was agreeable TO
them" Carpenter said
s.One of the officers grabbed me
around the neck and pulled me GOWN
fhe stairs. / asked them to show me
warrant and they refused. One OF
them said he didn't care what arrange
nents I had made with headquarters'
thew had come TO get the boy ana m
tended to do it. e,,..
.Bv this time the rest OF my Iamny
had come downstairs in their night
clothes
Declares BOYS Struck by Police.
"rhe women we're hysterical and
demonstrated with the police, trying TO
7,revent, them from taking the boy. An
officer struck Joseph 1.-THE boy they were
afterl on the head with blackjack,
inficting a wound which required TWO
stitches at hospital
my other son. Elmer. 20 years oio.
sriad IN nreyent the officer from hitting
Tosanh They BACKED both of his eyes.
NV two daughters, Barbara, IL, ana
Dorotf,v. Is. were dragged out INTO Inc
street in their nightciothes and cuf1ed
bv the policeman Their screams at
fracted neighbors, who saw the police
l1it them. Barbara'S ankle was nurt
end there are bruises on her back and
sat first they did not modest my
wife. but after leaving the house, one OF
the officers walked back into the front
room where she was standing and MT
her with his fist. blackened her eye
and knocked her back into the dining
room.
Says Forced to Walk Barefooted.
''The officers then walked my two
sons and myself to a patrol box at
Folr-and-a-half and ] streets, nearly
VITO blocks away. / was IN my
nightclothes and barefooted. told
them L had been Ill and was afraid OF
catching pneumonia. They wouldn't
let me go back for my shoes. One OF
the BOYS wanted to give me his, but
they wouldn't let him do it"
The disturbance was witnessed by
Mr.. and Mrs. George w. Phillips, 48s
II street southwest
Mrs. Phillips said she has lived next
TO the Carpenters for 10 years and has
never known them to be diSorderly IN
any way She described the manner In
which the police made the arrests as an
unbelievable outrage"
IT heard the girls screaming" Mrs
Phillips said, land ran to my bedroom
window"
81 could see several officers standing
around the two girls, who were dressed
only in their night clothes. I saw the
police hitting them, but / COULDN'T as
tinguish one blow from another. The
officers were using language Of highly
profane nature.
Neighbor Says Woman Hurt.
"The next day I went over to SET
Mrs. Carpenter. Her eye was blacl
and swollen. and she told me one o
the policemen had hit her. wanted
to go down and help them that night
but my husband wouldn't let me. HI
went down himself and saw the who'll
thing"
The father. a structural steel work
er. and the elder son were taken to tn
fourth precinct, where assault charge
were placed against them.
joseph. the younger son, was takel
to the third precinct the following da,
for purposes Of Identification. A WON
an, from whom he was alleged to hav
stolen a pocketbook and on whose Stor,
the warrant for his arrest was secured
was called in, but could not 1dentif
him. Charges of assault then wer
made out against him.
Capt. Scott of the third precinct sal
he had no first-hand information
10 the alleged assaults. The policeme
from his precinct, he said, told MI
that the other members of the famll
had attempted to interfere with tn
officers in making the arrest, and tha
assault charges had been placed again:
some of them.
Capt. Cornwell fourth precinct com
mander. said the affair was In tf
hands of the fourth precinct, and ths
his men accompanied the others mere
ly because the arrest was TO be mac
in his territory.
The police party making the arrest
included Sergt Emile GaSch, Serg
Spottswood Gravelly and Of1cer RUIZ
pert Mcneil of the third precinct an
Policeman M. P. Creel OF the fourt
precinct. Names of the other Officer
we're not obtained.
Policeman McNeilI who sWore to til
warrant for the young mans arres
denied that any of the policemen struc
members of the family. He said all {
the blows we're struck by the Cal
penters.
He also said the warrant was
proper form and that it was proper
k&hipited.