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Benton Harbor
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- Suspicion surrounds
death of Benton Harbor resident
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- -Story filed by NewsCenter16
Reporter Janelle Hall, August 4, 2003
The June riots in Benton Harbor
erupted after a fatal high-speed chase with police. Rioters say
Terrance Shurn's death was the final straw in their build-up
of frustrations, but those frustrations also stemmed from another
death that possibly involved police.
Twenty-eight year-old Arthur Partee
worked and lived in Benton Harbor. NewsCenter 16 first learned
of his name during the Benton Harbor riots when protestors held
signs saying "What about Arthur Partee?"
The question came up after
local residents learned he died shortly after police responded
to a call at his home. According to sources, Partee's cause
of death was unnatural.
Partee shared a Benton
Township apartment with his mother. On April 12, Partee's
mother called Benton Township police to her home. NewsCenter
16's Janelle Hall was unable to find out exactly why the police
were called, but, following that instance, Partee somehow
ended up dead.
An attorney representing the Partee
family says there were four people inside the Benton Township
apartment when the incident happened: Arthur Partee, his mother
and two Benton Township police officers. At some point, emergency
crews were called. Arthur Partee left in an ambulance. His
family's attorney says he died later that night.
Exactly how Partee died
remains a mystery. His mother's not saying, her attorney's not
saying and despite repeated requests, Benton Township police
also won't say how it happened.
The answers, which lie in the
coroner's reports, remain sealed in the attorney general's office
in Michigan.
The Partee's family attorney,
George Lyons did say, "If your question is: did he die of
natural causes? I would say that's not likely. It's not likely
at all."
In May, Berrien County prosecutor
James Cherry handed the case over to the attorney general's office
in Michigan. Cherry says, "I turned it over because I knew
it was a sensitive issue."
It is a sensitive issue in
the Benton Township police department as well. Benton Township
Police Chief James Coburn says they won't comment on the case
until the investigation is complete. Cherry did confirm two officers
are temporarily off the job.
NewsCenter 16 has also
learned those township officers are Patrolmen William Bradshaw
and Tim Sutherland.
Two Benton Township police
officers are on paid suspension while officials investigate Partee's
death
Cherry says the officers are still on paid suspension.
The suspension comes after
Michigan State Police say Partee "went to the floor
and stopped breathing after a fight with police."
Lyons says, "Each and
every officer who has taken an oath to protect and serve must
be ever so careful to do precisely that at all times."
When the Michigan Attorney
General's office completes its investigation into Partee's
death, there should be a few more answers and access to the coroner's
reports, along with incident reports from the night he died.
The Partee family attorney
hasn't officially filed any complaints against the Benton Township
Police department or any of its officers but attorney George
Lyons said a civil lawsuit could come as a result of Partee's
death.
As of August 4, 2003 Benton Township Police Chief Coburn confirmed
both officers are still off the job. He says it will stay that
way until the investigation is complete.
Details of Benton
Harbor riots emerging
- Several police cars
were severely damaged by bricks and bottles thrown from the mob
June 17, 2003
Monday night a Benton Harbor
neighborhood turned into a mob scene. Hundreds of
angry people crowded the neighborhood near Pavone and Empire
to protest the death of 28-year-old Terrance Shurn of Benton
Harbor. He was killed after his motorcycle crashed following
a high-speed police chase.
The riots lasted for close
to six hours but the unrest began much earlier in the evening.
It started at 7 PM Michigan time when more than 100 people turned
out for Benton Harbor's city commission meeting because they
were upset with the chase involving Benton Township police, which
ended in Benton Harbor.
Rioting begins
After the meeting, around
11 PM, the rioting began near Empire and Broadway
The death of Terrance Shurn
sparked anger from the community (Photo courtesy the Herald Palladium)
Streets. Eventually the mob grew to 300 to 400 people. The mob
threw bricks and bottles at police cars causing thousands of
dollars in damages. Police decided to suit up in riot gear.
By about 1 AM a vacant house
was set on fire by people in the crowd. By 5 AM police were able
to disperse the crowds.
A neighbor shot video of the
vacant home engulfed in flames. It's believed rioters torched
the home, which was located across the street from the scene
of Monday's fatal motorcycle accident.
Benton Harbor Police Chief
Samuel Harris says fire crews were unable to immediately get
to the scene because of the danger presented by the rioters.
Because of that, several nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.
A second nearby home burned hours after the rioting ended, but
authorities aren't sure if that fire was related.
"A disturbance"
Chief Harris says, "I
wouldn't call it a riot. It was more of a disturbance."
The disturbance caused Chief Harris and Benton Harbor Police
crews to call in other area units for backup.
A NewsCenter 16 photographer
tried to reach the scene. He says, "The objects hit my news
vehicle. Both of them shattered. I believe they might have been
bottles of some kind. One did make a dent. I saw all kinds of
stuff going down last night. The police was up there they were
scared to even get out there cars it was so many people up there
they couldn't do nothing."
Even with the destruction last
night, there were no arrests.
Untruths and
misconceptions
Chief Harris says, "There
were some very untruthful statements made at our commissioners
meeting such as the vehicle was struck by a police car, they
saw
Police believe the mob set
fire to an abandoned house close to where Terrance Shurn died
blood on the police car and all that and my information is that
the police car never got within 2 to 3 blocks of the motorcycle
that caused the incident."
Chief Harris says one of the
biggest misconceptions about this investigation is that Benton
Harbor Police don't care about what's going on. He says they
do and they've been affected to just take a look at what happened
to one of their vehicles during last night's incident.
Preparing for
the worst
The atmosphere is still
volatile in Benton Harbor. Police and residents fear the chaos
has only begun. Police are taking step to safeguard against another
riot tonight. Police patrols have been stepped up in the area
near Empire and Pavone Streets.
Seven police agencies will patrol the streets Tuesday night including
the FBI with riot gear on hand if necessary. Patrol cars will
be doubled up with personnel and command centers are set throughout
the town. If there is an incident, police say they will take
action.
Chief Samuel Harris of the
Benton Harbor Police Department says, "Tonight we will
make arrests because this sort of conduct can no longer be allowed
to continue. Last night our citizens vented. Tonight venting
will cost you time in the Berrien County Jail."
High-speed chase fatality
leaves many questions
June 16, 2003
A high-speed police pursuit
turned deadly early Monday morning in Benton Harbor. Around 2
AM, 28-year-old Terrance Devon Shurn was killed when he
crashed his motorcycle into an abandoned house.
The crash has police investigating
and neighbors questioning the chase. All police pursuits raise
questions, especially when they end in a fatality.
Lt. Joseph Zangaro, Michigan
State Police Bridgman post commander, says, "Our jobs
are to protect lives and when something like this happens, you
still second guess yourself sometimes."
The police pursuit started
with two motorcycles on U.S. 31 near Scottdale. "He initially
observed it at a high rate of speed, 100 mph, knew he couldn't
catch him and terminated the pursuit," says Lt. Zangaro.
But police spotted Shurn
again, blowing thru stop signs and driving thru people's lawns.
A chase again ensued and ended when police say Shurn lost
control.
"Police
were wrong"
Neighbors say police were
in the wrong. Beth Hollins, an area resident, said, "You
could tell how he jumped the curb that the police had hit the
back of his motorcycle."
Lt. Zangaro says, "That
police officer has a split second to make that decision and sometimes,
like I said, he's doing the best he can with the decision they
do make."
Investigation
continues
It's still not clear why Shurn
was speeding and eluding police. An autopsy is being performed
today and toxicology results are expected in about 10 days.
The Michigan State Police Accident Reconstruction Team is investigating
the crash to sort out exactly how it happened.
MICH. TOWN WRACKED BY
RIOTS
June 19, 2003 -- DETROIT - Authorities have clamped
a state of emergency on a small city in southwest Michigan where
riots, sparked by the death of a motorcyclist during a high-speed
police chase, have left about 15 people injured.
The riots, in which local officials
said more than six buildings and an undetermined number of cars
were set ablaze, began on Monday after the death of the biker
in economically depressed Benton Harbor.
The violence erupted again
Tuesday night, and about 120 state troopers were dispatched to
the city after emergency rule was declared by local authorities,
who acted with the backing of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Granholm said she hoped to
avoid using National Guard troops to enforce law and order in
the city, something that has not been done in Michigan since
race riots in the mid-1960s.
The predominantly black town
is the home base of Whirlpool Corp. It and nearby St. Joseph
have a long history of racial and class tensions, some of them
chronicled in the book "The Other Side of the River,"
by Alex Kotlowitz. Reuters
NEW YORK POST
Benton Harbor
June 19, 2003, Editorial,
Detroit Free Press
A riot is seldom as spontaneous
as it seems. While one incident provides a trigger, underlying
conditions have generally been festering. The climate is ripe.
Troublemakers just need an excuse to take it to the streets,
and the mob mentality takes it from there.
Such was the case in Detroit
in 1967, where a fairly routine police raid on a blind pig sparked
a week of death and devastation, and in Los Angeles in 1992,
after a jury acquitted four white police officers in the videotaped
beating of Rodney King. Frustrated, angry people seized a moment,
with little regard for the consequences. There's no sense to
it. Nothing gets better and much gets immediately worse. Rioters
may have a long list of grievances but they don't take the long
view on resolving them.
This is what appears to have
happened in Benton Harbor, a pocket of deep poverty in the shadow
of prosperous St. Joseph in southwest Michigan. The city of 12,000
people was under a state of emergency Wednesday after two nights
of rioting left up to 15 people hurt, including one who was shot.
The trouble erupted after a police chase that ended in the death
of a motorcyclist. There was a vigil at the crash site, a meeting,
angry words and then fire and violence -- enough to put Benton
Harbor on the national news.
Nobody has paid much attention
to the city's high unemployment, failing schools or endless financial
troubles. But all of that figures into the rioting -- which only
brings the wrong kind of attention.
Benton Harbor's pressing needs
are for a tight curfew and the police resources to restore order.
Anyone identified as an instigator of the riots must be prosecuted.
Then local and state officials need to consider what was happening
in the city before this happened, and what can be done to keep
it from happening again.
Copyright © 2003 Detroit
Free Press Inc.
Benton Harbor warnings
are the kind ignored elsewhere
BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES
COLUMNIST, June 19, 2003
Two years ago, I spent a weekend
in the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph area reporting on Whirlpool Corp.'s
ambitious effort to bridge the racial and economic gap between
the two communities.
Although sections of Benton
Harbor gave me the chills, there was something beautiful about
the town.
I could sense its potential.
I was struck by how Benton
Harbor could be any poor black neighborhood. I saw the same kinds
of conditions--vacant lots, dilapidated buildings, rundown housing,
idled workers and frustrated teens--that I've seen in every other
poor urban community.
That is probably what frightens
me the most about the town's two nights of rioting.
Although the local police chief
and some Benton Harbor residents downplayed the violence, pointing
out that Terrance Shurn--the Benton Harbor resident who died
when his motorcycle crashed into a house during a police chase--was
the only fatality in the chaos, the frustrations that led to
the violence are percolating.
Since racial frustration appears
to have ignited the riot, it is ironic that Shurn was not chased
by police from the predominantly white St. Joseph area. Shurn,
a black man, was chased by white police officers from Benton
Township, who patrol the unincorporated area next to Benton Harbor.
That unincorporated area is 51.9 percent black and is the site
of the Whirlpool headquarters.
The Benton Harbor police chief,
Samuel Harris, who has had to quell the riots, is black.
And the five buildings that
were burned, the vehicles that were vandalized, and the victims
that were shot and stabbed, were all in Benton Harbor, a town
that is 92.4 percent black.
It's as if the rioters learned
nothing from the turbulent riots of the '60s that leveled whole
blocks in black neighborhoods in L.A., Detroit and Chicago. Some
of the neighborhoods have never been redeveloped.
"We're tired of it now.
We're tired of it," 21-year-old Antonio Cornelius told an
Associated Press reporter. According to Cornelius, his 11-year-old
cousin, Trenton Patterson, was struck on a sidewalk and killed
two years ago in a police chase that also involved Benton Township
police officers.
That these built-up resentments
led nearly 300 people to riot after Shurn's motorcycle crashed
signals a deeper racial problem. We will ignore it until the
pot boils over. Similar resentments can be blamed for the skirmishes
between police officers and citizens in Chicago when police officers
have attempted to arrest suspects in low-income neighborhoods.
We can't afford to ignore the
signs. The violence that imploded in Benton Harbor could easily
erupt elsewhere.
"The way things transpired,
it is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed," acknowledged
Mark Mitchell, president of the Council for World Class Communities,
an organization founded by Whirlpool Corp. to help facilitate
dialogue between stakeholders in the Benton Harbor/St. Joe area.
"But I think it is a community
issue and not just an issue for the police department. It is
a community issue."
On Wednesday, Mitchell said
the streets were quiet, but a ministerial alliance planned to
patrol the troubled neighborhoods after dark and help keep things
calm.
"Many people have come
forward to show that this violence is not representative of this
community," Mitchell said. "We have to figure out a
way to bring people together to talk and avoid further violence.
We've had two years of dialogue and have been able to do some
positive things."
In fact, internationally renowned
sculptor Richard Hunt opened an arts studio in Benton Harbor
several years ago, and other entrepreneurs have followed, opening
upscale restaurants downtown.
Mary Connors and Paul Camp,
who live full time in Lincoln Park, bought a second home in Benton
Harbor nearly 20 years ago.
"We go over there all
the time," Connors said. "As it turned out, we bought
a house right across from public housing. We have met nothing
but nice people over there and have made very good friends. There
are worse parts of town and better parts of town. But mostly,
there are good people who are just trying to make it work."
Connors said there are little
pockets of redevelopment in Benton Harbor even though there are
deeply ingrained problems, including a poor school system.
Her husband, Paul, hopes the
negative publicity the city has gotten will focus the efforts
of the people who are trying to change the community.
"But it is not going to
happen until the people who live in the communities surrounding
Benton Harbor become active in working to help Benton Harbor.
If we could pull together--the people who live in the surrounding
communities, whose futures are very much tied to what happens
to Benton Harbor--to do something constructive, it could be a
positive."
To get there, their neighbors
would have to cross a racial divide.
Benton Harbor is like every
other struggling, poor, black community.
That's the frightening thing.
|
Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
