Apr 26 - Arrest made in racially tinged beating of Mobile man; suspect and victim had feud (Updated):
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Police today arrested Terry Rawls, one of the men believed to have been involved in the mob-beating of a man in the city’s Pleasant Valley community. Mobile police today said that there were 3 "active participants" in the Saturday night beating of Matthew Owens on Delmar Drive.
Rawls, 44, declined to comment as police led him to a squad car to take him to Mobile County Metro Jail on a first-degree assault charge. That is a Class B felony, punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
Mobile police spokesman Cpl. Christopher Levy said authorities made contact with Rawls Tuesday night and that he turned himself in today.
Levy said 2 to 3 additional arrests are possible. Chad Tucker, a spokesman for the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, said no additional warrants have been issued.
Rawls has a lengthy criminal history, including a previous conviction for first-degree assault, according to court records.
The beaten man, Matthew Owens, was taken to the University of South Alabama Medical Center, which upgraded his condition today to fair. The 40-year-old patient has been in the hospital since a group of angry people beat him with paint cans, lawn furniture and other objects on Saturday.
The case has drawn national attention because a couple of witnesses reported hearing someone in the crowd tell Owens that it was justice for Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.
Rawls and the other assailants on Saturday are black, while Owens is white.
Levy police have set up a meeting to present information about the incident to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which have jurisdiction over federal hate crimes. But Levy reiterated today that police are convicted that the Martin case did not motivate Saturday’s incident. Instead, he said, the assault resulted from long-simmering bad blood between Owens and Rawls.
“This here is an incident stemming from an ongoing dispute between neighbors,” Levy said. “We spend a lot of time defusing neighborhood disputes, neighbors who don’t get along. ... That’s what this is. And unfortunately, this can lead to violence.”
Tucker expressed a similar sentiment. “That’s an important fact that needs to get out to the public. This was not some random event that came out of nowhere.”
Neighbors have said a large group of black people confronted Owens at about 8:30 p.m. near his home on Delmar Drive. Levy said many people appear to have been present, but he said most merely watched and did not participate in the violence.
He said Owens had a dispute with neighborhood children who were playing basketball on the street. They told their parents, who were having a large get-together with friends.
“Really, the party just kind of moved down there,” Levy said.
It was not the first time violence erupted between Rawls and Owens. Levy said the 2 traded racist epithets in July 2009 and that Rawls assaulted Owens. While a witness initially told police that Rawls had used a baseball bat, Levy said the suspect denied that, insisting he had only used his hands. The witness later said he could not be sure a bat was used, Levy said.
At any rate, Levy said, the District Attorney’s Office reduced the charge to third-degree assault and dropped it when Owens declined to pursue it.
Arrest made in racially tinged beating of Mobile man; suspect and victim had feud (Updated) | al.com
'via Blog this
Police today arrested Terry Rawls, one of the men believed to have been involved in the mob-beating of a man in the city’s Pleasant Valley community. Mobile police today said that there were 3 "active participants" in the Saturday night beating of Matthew Owens on Delmar Drive.
Rawls, 44, declined to comment as police led him to a squad car to take him to Mobile County Metro Jail on a first-degree assault charge. That is a Class B felony, punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
Mobile police spokesman Cpl. Christopher Levy said authorities made contact with Rawls Tuesday night and that he turned himself in today.
Levy said 2 to 3 additional arrests are possible. Chad Tucker, a spokesman for the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office, said no additional warrants have been issued.
Rawls has a lengthy criminal history, including a previous conviction for first-degree assault, according to court records.
The beaten man, Matthew Owens, was taken to the University of South Alabama Medical Center, which upgraded his condition today to fair. The 40-year-old patient has been in the hospital since a group of angry people beat him with paint cans, lawn furniture and other objects on Saturday.
The case has drawn national attention because a couple of witnesses reported hearing someone in the crowd tell Owens that it was justice for Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida.
Rawls and the other assailants on Saturday are black, while Owens is white.
Levy police have set up a meeting to present information about the incident to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which have jurisdiction over federal hate crimes. But Levy reiterated today that police are convicted that the Martin case did not motivate Saturday’s incident. Instead, he said, the assault resulted from long-simmering bad blood between Owens and Rawls.
“This here is an incident stemming from an ongoing dispute between neighbors,” Levy said. “We spend a lot of time defusing neighborhood disputes, neighbors who don’t get along. ... That’s what this is. And unfortunately, this can lead to violence.”
Tucker expressed a similar sentiment. “That’s an important fact that needs to get out to the public. This was not some random event that came out of nowhere.”
Neighbors have said a large group of black people confronted Owens at about 8:30 p.m. near his home on Delmar Drive. Levy said many people appear to have been present, but he said most merely watched and did not participate in the violence.
He said Owens had a dispute with neighborhood children who were playing basketball on the street. They told their parents, who were having a large get-together with friends.
“Really, the party just kind of moved down there,” Levy said.
It was not the first time violence erupted between Rawls and Owens. Levy said the 2 traded racist epithets in July 2009 and that Rawls assaulted Owens. While a witness initially told police that Rawls had used a baseball bat, Levy said the suspect denied that, insisting he had only used his hands. The witness later said he could not be sure a bat was used, Levy said.
At any rate, Levy said, the District Attorney’s Office reduced the charge to third-degree assault and dropped it when Owens declined to pursue it.
Arrest made in racially tinged beating of Mobile man; suspect and victim had feud (Updated) | al.com