Evening star., 1950-02-11

OA44SC w 44o1AC ~ OoSS SetoSS W1oA4 etb
clear a violation as this"
"Oh, no." Mr.. Howard answered,
this was an exception"
Pvt. Thomas A. Basnight of
the third precinct, who won the
first Policeman of the Month
award, told of responding to a
call that a man was firing a pis-
tol. AS he entered an apartment,
he said, he heard a woman say:
Don't shoot any more, Bill"
II went in and saw a man with
his hand behind him and wom-
an standing in front of him." he
went on. Il knew it was no use
for me to draw my gun although
I felt he had a gun in his hand.
I went around the room as quickly
as I could and grabbed the man.
AS I did, he stuck P-38 (foreign
make pistoD in my stomach and
cooked the gun.
MY partner ran up and stuck
his thumb between the firing pin
and the hammer. When we got
the gun away from him. it had
three rounds of ammunition in
it."
The next day. he went tc the
prosecutor complaint room to
file charges of assault with a dam
gerous weapon. He said the charge
was reduced by the prosecutor to
threats in a menacing manner
He said he was told jury would
not convict the defendant on the
graver charge.
Assistant United States At
torney Harold H. Bacon was called
to the stand.
/ Reluctance to Indict Cited.
| Mr.. Bacon was asked if it were
true that the grand jury would
have been reluctant to indict the
defendant in this case. --..
In charge of assault with a
dangerous weapon where no in
jury is inflicted" he said, "the
Tgrand jury is reluctant to indict,
and we have difficulty getting a
verdict OF, guilty ....
The counsel wanted to know
why charge of assault on an
officer was not brought. Mr.. Ba-
con said for purposes of saving
paper work, the more important
charge is brought to preliminary
hearing and the grand jury then
gets all the facts and decides the
charges that should be brought.
Mr.. Fischbach pointed out that
the case vas never sent to the
grand jury.
Because I didn't think he
could be convicted of a felony -
Mr.. Bacon responded. The max
ing of threats in a menacing man.
ner is a misdemeanor.
You are assuming responsible
ity that should be assumed by a
judge and not by an assistant
United States attorney in a COM
plant ROOM" Mr.. Fischbach told
the prosecutor.
Mr.. Bacon said a Municipal
Court jury deliberated two hours
and took the very unusual step
OF recommending mercy when it
found the man guilty of threats,
He was sentenced to pay $100 or
spend 1870 days in Jail and got
an 180 days suspended sentence.
Pvt. Charles w. Powell of the
First Precinct testified he had
answered call on March 4, 1949
to go after a crazy man" When
he reached the scene, he said, the
man hit fractured his nose with a
stick, he testified.
Reduced to Simple Assault.
The policeman said he was told
the charge of assault with a
dangerous weapon would be re-
duced to simple assault so the
man could be sent to Gallingel
Hospital for mental observation
He was told, he added, that il
the man was found sane, he
would be, notified and the more
serious charge would be placed
against him again. He said he
was not notified and the case was
dropped April 26.
Mr.. Howard said Assistant
United States Attorney j. Warren
| Wilson handled the case before
the man went to Gallinger, but
he, Mr.. Howard. had nolle
pressed it.
/ Mr.. Howard said he was noti-
fled the man was found sane
but was a low-grade moron.
| Then Mr.. Howard added:
| II admit I shouldn't have done
it. I admit since I've thought il
over I'll never do it again.
know I'm technically wrong"
i The subcommittee also was TOLD
about several other cases but the
session ended before prosecutor
could be called to discuss them.
Pvt. Tarver j. Thomas of the
14th Precinct described two Incl
1dents-one where he was run over
by car he had chased for traffic
violations and the other where q
woman hit him with steel pipe
In both cases, he said, charges
OF assault on an officer were
/ r3roy@y,aJ