The Recorder goes national

My co-worker Arn Albertini (picture to the right) wrote a story about the arrest of an ESPN baseball writer in Franklin County, Mass, where our newspaper is located. His lawyer says allegations that Bryant assaulted his wife and a police officer over the weekend are racially motivated.

This story made the Huffington Post and The Recorder was cited.

Here is Arn's story.

By ARN ALBERTINI
Recorder Staff

The local lawyer for ESPN writer Howard Bryant of Ashfield says allegations that Bryant assaulted his wife and a police officer over the weekend are racially motivated.

“Mr. Bryant was the victim of excessive force,” lawyer Buz Eisenberg said after his client’s arraignment in Greenfield District Court Monday. “(Police) responded to the scene and rather than do an investigation they made an arrest of a black man with white wife.

“This is a sad end to Black History Month.”

In response, David Procopio, director of media communications for the Massachusetts State Police, said, “To claim race had anything to do with his arrest is not only wrong, but is also an affront to domestic violence victims and to the vast majority of people from all racial backgrounds who choose to obey the law.”

On Monday morning, Bryant pleaded innocent to charges of domestic assault and battery, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He was released on personal recognizance with the condition that he not abuse the alleged victim.

“I am so sad today,” said Bryant, speaking from his Ashfield home on Monday afternoon. “I am sad today because this attack on me by the Massachusetts State Police and the Buckland Police has made it necessary for me to defend untrue allegations and repair my reputation when one conversation with either Veronique (his wife) or with me would have diffused the entire situation. Instead, the police chose violence over dialogue, threatened to Taser me whenever I tried to speak, all in front of my 6 year-old son.

“As a result, I have to defend a charge that I attacked both the woman I love and the police when nothing could be further from the truth.

“I’m a 42-year-old black man. Why would I hit a cop?

Bryant’s wife, Veronique, was in court on Monday sitting by his side as he was arraigned.

“The police made assumptions about my husband that weren’t true,” s he said in a statement released on ESPN.com. “I was never abused or in fear of Howard on that day or any other day. I wasn’t running from him or trying to get away from him. The police weren’t listening to me and they attacked him with violence with our 6-year-old watching.”

The state police say that shortly after noon on Saturday, witnesses saw Bryant had his hands around his wife’s neck and had her pinned against her car, which was parked in front of the Buckland House of Pizza on State Street.

Witnesses also said that as a state police cruiser approached, Bryant released his hands, according to the police report filed by trooper Brian R. Doak In that report, Doak said that he told Bryant that he was being arrested for domestic assault and battery but that Bryant would not heed his commands. Doak said that Bryant also physically resisted, straightening his arms and moving his torso back and forth, when police tried t o move Bryant’s hands behind his back. At one point, as Bryant was raising his left arm his elbow struck Doak in the chest, Doak said. “Bryant continued to resist and attempted to pull away.”

Eventually, Doak held one arm while Shelburne officer Clint Phillips and Buckland Police officer Paul Herbert held the other arm so that they could handcuff him, said Doak. Eisenberg disputes the police’s account of how Bryant behaved during the arrest and said the police were aggressive with his client.

Doak said that Bryant’s wife told him the altercation was verbal and did not answer him when he asked if the altercation turned physical.

Eisenberg said that Bryant’s wife kept trying to talk with the police officer to say that she had not been assaulted. “They would not listen to her,” he said. “They would not allow her to make a statement.”

“They never did an investigation, which is what they are paid to do … If you’re going to investigate a complaint, don’t you ask questions?” he asked.

Police say they have five witnesses who saw Bryant assaulting his wife.

Bryant does not have a criminal record, Eisenberg said. “He’s a nationally known figure.”

On Monday, Eisenberg filed a motion, which the court allowed, to preserve any evidence including any recordings of cruiser cameras.

A pretrial conference has been scheduled for April 21.

“We will pursue this case in the normal course, without regard to the stature or employment of anyone involved,” said First Assistant District Attorney Steven E. Gagne.

Asked for comment, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said, “We are still gathering information on it.”

Bryant joined ESPN in 2007 after a newspaper career that included stops at The Washington Post, Boston Herald, Bergen Record, San Jose Mer cury News and Oakland Tribune. He has written three books, the most recent being “The Last Hero” about Hank Aaron. He also wrote “Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball” and “Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston.”

You can reach Arn Albertini at: aalberti@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 Ext. 264