UPDATE: This article was originally published on Mon, 01/18/2010. Will David, the reporter for the JN, contacted Talk of the Sound to say the story had been “corrected”. By that he meant that the location of the incident was changed from “10 Main Street” to “10 May Street”. The account of the incident itself is entirely wrong BUT the JN corrected the address where the incident took place so apparently in the minds of Will David and his editors the story is now somehow “accurate”. Of course, that the JN had the wrong street address suggests they did not obtain a copy of the police report or talk to the two officers. Further, the quote from officer Salerno is entirely out of context or misleading because Perkins did not actually “pull a gun” on the two officers. The actions of the police officers were based on standard police procedure and thus did not show “great” restraint just “normal” police action where it is normal for police officers to show restraint.
Last week Will David of the Journal News reported that a “22-year-old Yonkers man” pulled a loaded handgun on a New Rochelle police sergeant and officer when they responded to a report of a “suspicious” person at “multifamily building at 10 Main St.”
According to the Journal News, Desmond Perkins was tasered after he pulled “a loaded 9 mm Glock” on Sgt. Neil Reynolds and Officer Edgard Sanchez. The Journal News then quotes Joseph Salerno of the New Rochelle Police Department saying the two officer “demonstrated very good restraint”.
That’s some restraint when police respond to reports of a suspicious person who, when confronted, whips out a loaded handgun and all the police officers do is whip out a stun gun and tase him. Based on the charges — second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon — how can this possibly make any sense? Pulling a gun on two cops would lead to far more serious charges than these.
First, pulling a gun on two cops responding to reports of a “suspicious person” who is “combative” and “confrontational” will generally result in the officers drawing their hand guns and if the gun is raised and aimed at the officers the result will generally be instant death due to “lead poisoning”. A guy draws a gun on two New Rochelle cops and they reach for their taser instead of a sidearm? Does that even make sense?
Second, a Google Street View search does not show any “multifamily building at 10 Main St.”. In fact, there is no “10 Main St.” in New Rochelle. There is a 10 EAST Main Street but that is the location of the Larchmont Chrysler dealer which sits right on the Larchmont-New Rochelle border. Across the street is the Range Rover dealer. There is an apartment building down the road but that is in Larchmont.
Third, of course, no mention that the suspect was black.
So, let’s try some facts.
1. Desmond Perkins did not “pull” a gun on two NRPD officers. They were wrestling with him in an attempt to subdue him. Initially the tried to tase him but only one of the two darts stuck in him rendering the stun gun in effective. They then sprayed him with pepper spray to no effect — Perkins continued to resist. During an attempt to physically restrain Perkins, the two officers wrestled him to the ground. Only after they had subdued him did the officers see a 9 mm Glock on the ground. The gun is similar to the .40 mm handgun carried by New Rochelle police officer so at first glance they each thought it was the other officers weapon. When they realized that they each had their weapons holstered, they realized the gun must have been concealed by Perkins and shaken loose in the struggle.
2. While there is no “10 Main St.” in New Rochelle there is a 10 May Street in New Rochelle and there is a multifamily dwelling located at that address.
10 May Street is a small street located between Burling and Lockwood Avenue and between Memorial Highway and North Avenue in an area with a crime rate just a tad higher than the Larchmont border.
3. Desmond Perkins is black.
Harder to replace Aman than it seems
How in the world can a “reporter” actually do a story that has so many facts wrong ? Does Will have another “carreer” like Aman ? Maybe he’s spreading himself to thin . Think of reading about a man with a gun in your neighborhood – worrying about the family , kids , – only to find out later ( from Talk of the Sound ) that the guy never was in your neighborhood . I would be ashamed to work at the Journal News .
You mean like this story the
You mean like this story the other day?: New Rochelle Resident Brutally Assaulted by Two Men Hiding in Bushes (http://bit.ly/8jJRJJ).
This is the story where they reported the incident as a “home invasion”. The assault took place on the sidewalk/street in front of the house. Neither suspect entered the home and the victim was not in his home either immediately before, during or after. Meanwhile, a family member WAS In the home at the time of the incident.
The JN has been informed of their error but failed to correct the story at all.
What these stories have in common is that the errors are not ones of minor detail but relate to the full nature of the crime — a stick-up robbery/street mugging is not a home invasion, a gun falling out of a guy’s clothes is not the same as pulling a gun on two police officers. Not even close.
This is hardly new for the Journal News which quite often fundamentally misreports stories.
BTW, I am told that a JN editor was recently asked about the paper’s penchant for regularly omitting a witness description of physical appearance/racial identity of a police suspect when that description is of a black person but doing the opposite when the suspect is white. In his response, this editor is said to have remarked that the paper gets complaints when they identify suspects as black and used the word “profiling”. Newsflash for the JN, racial profiling by police would be pulling over a driver of car because the driver is black or profiling by the TSA for stopping someone at the airport because they look to be of Arab descent or something like that. Reporting that multiple witness to a crime stated that a perpetrator is black or white or some other race or ethnicity is NOT profiling by any measure. I expect a “paper of record” like the JN to place public safety ahead of political correctness; if two young black men are calling taxis to make pick ups in predominantly white neighborhoods and then jumping in the taxi and robbing the driver it is more important that the community be on alert for this. For anyone who has taken a taxi in New Rochelle, they would certainly be aware that our community’s taxi drivers include more than a few black taxi drivers. I am more concerned with protecting those hard-working men and women than not offending two crooks.