NAACP probes police action at club

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009

The dispute in late June at Butler's Place follows a history of the business as an entertainment landmark but also the site of disturbances drawing a law-enforcement response.

St. Mary's sheriff's deputies went there at about 1:30 a.m. on June 28 to locate a woman wanted for a probation violation, local NAACP President Wayne Scriber said this week, but allegations followed that additional people were doused and overcome with pepper spray. "People were being maced unnecessarily," he said of the allegations. "They were being ordered [to go] in the bar, and then to leave the bar."

Scriber said accounts of what happened as the law officers had additional contact with the patrons also are a concern, and part of a report being prepared for the Maryland attorney general's office. "Several people refused to have their pictures taken, and they were threatened with arrest," Scriber said of the allegations. "That's something that I believe was a civil rights violation."

The woman accused of the probation violation was the only person taken into custody, he said.

Scriber, a retired senior officer with the Maryland State Police, said the sheriff's office also was contacted about the allegations.

"We are aware of the complaint," sheriff's spokesperson Cindy Allen said Thursday, "and we're conducting an administrative investigation." Allen said that sheriff's officials had not been advised of the report being prepared for the attorney general's office.

Scriber said he contacted Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron (R) directly about the issues. "He has assured me that a full investigation is being conducted," Scriber said. "I'm confident that he will."

Some of the people involved in the incident have gone to the court commissioner's office to seek criminal charges against two of the sheriff's deputies, Scriber said, and those requests have been forwarded to the state's attorney's office for review in accordance with standard procedures.

The administrative charges against Rufus I. Butler docketed for next week's meeting of the St. Mary's Alcohol Beverage Board include claims that there was a disorderly crowd inside the premises, alcohol consumption after closing time and a fight in the parking lot.

Scriber said the local NAACP branch would not take part in the liquor board meeting.

jwharton@somdnews.com