The city of Asheville is still silent on the exact occurrence that led to the barring of resident Reid Thompson from public buildings without prior notice and an escort. But in response to questions from Xpress, the city manager’s office did send this document to that outlines the city’s workplace violence policy.
Of note is the description of the Threat Assessment Task Force, the group that recommended restricted-access status for Thompson. That body is made up of members of the the city’s Human Resources Department, the City Manager’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office, the Chief of Police, the City Physician and the City’s Risk Manager.
Meanwhile, Thompson reports that his attendance at a Monday night meeting of the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods, held at the Oakley Community Center, was marked by the presence of three Asheville Police Officers. APD spokesperson Melissa Williams told Xpress that two officers did attend that meeting, and a third stopped by while on his rounds. She did not have any comment about Thompson specifically.
— Brian Postelle, staff writer.
It is obvious our City does not want “protest”. And we are “progressive”? Where is Brownhole Newman on this issue? Isn’t he a “progressive”? I say, if Reid broke a law and was threatening, then CHARGE him and let him have his day in court. This way, the “ban” is high-handed government suppression of individual free speech rights. Shame on this City Council. They are PINOs. Progessive In Name Only.
It was Interim Planning Director Shannon Tuch who complained to City Manager Gary Jackson about Reid Thompson after Thompson confronted Tuch regarding certain facts regarding Greenlife issues. Tuch became abusive and disrespectful and Thompson responded in kind, leading to the barring of Thompson from “all city buildings.”
Seriously. Charge the man or don’t – but the city really acted out of order on this one.
Where is the law that allows some city administrator the power to do this? I thought only the judicial branch has this authority.
I have protested the way the police handled me during an incident where I was tazed three times by Officers Lawson, Coon and McClanahan. Lawson pulled the trigger but Coon and McClanahan stood there and gave Lawson the nod to go ahead. I have protested the way the city of Asheville from the Mayor, City Council and on down the line through to the secretaries at the Asheville Police Department treated me in the after math of the tazer incident. Half were proper and half were nasty. If I had done to those three men what they did to me I would have spent at least four years in prison. Not one officer or one supervisor spent one day in prison for what happened to me. Coon and McClanahan still work in the Asheville Police Department. The people who trained these men or ignored their problems in the first place still work in the department. The tazer incident occurred in 2005 but I signed up to speak at city council during the summer of 2007, two full years later. Three officers, Eric Lauffer, Don Eberhardt and another unknown third officer mocked, insulted and disrespected me while I had a right to exercise my freedom of speech and sign up to speak at city council public comment section. The third unknown officer got so close to me that the hairs on our arms could touch. When officer Eberhardt was asked his name he refused to give it to me. I wanted his name so I could do a complaint. A long time ago Chief Hogan told me that yes I had to give my name to officers when they asked it. “Even if an officer asks me seven times?” “Yes.” Hogan said yes. Well what about the double standard here? If I have to be respectful then what about the officers? I have been in city hall plenty of times trying to explain to various members of the administration why we need to correct this double standard. Now that Reid has been banned from city buildings I am wondering when I will get banned because I doth protest much. I have tried to be respectful. I requested a print out of the personnel records action of the three officers who disprespected me that day. Not one of the officers had one mark on their personnel file to show that the behavior that they exhibited will not be tolerated. The should have had consequences on their personnel record. This is how we stop officers in their abusive tracks long before they use a taser three times and almost kill someone. Is the city manager following the treatment of inappropriate officers behavior? How am I going to get treated by officers the next time I have to give a speech at CAN? I do not ever want to go back and speak to city council during public comment because I do not want to observe verbal abuse. Why has the Chief of Police not called me and apologized for what happened when I tried to use my right to free speech? Wnen will inappropriate staff get banned from the city hall? Or the police department? I can tell you that on at least five occasions I have been the victim of inappropriate conduct in city hall or the police department. When will Curt Euler the city attorney for the police department be banned from city hall for all the lies he told me and all the abuse that spewed from his mouth in disrespect? We need equality. I do not know what Reid did or why he got banned but I will say that I can understand why he may have felt like mouthing off. When the city that you pay your taxes to betrays you then we all suffer. People are human. I paid my taxes, I brought a complaint and I suffered retaliation. How would you like to bring a complaint to your police department and then be put under surveillance? Yup, surrveillance. I have to behave but the police pushed the limit on more than one occasion. We have more than half of our police force that is superb. I Love them. The rest of them screw it up for the good cops. There is one police officer named Chad Bridges that I want banned from my neighborhood because he threw a stun grenade in some man’s lap and destroyed his testicles so the man can no longer have children and then Officer Bridges put a bullet in the back of another man’s head. This community wants him banned from Asheville but since he still works for the Asheville Police Department then I want to have lunch with the city manager and ask Mr.Jackson if he can ban Chad Bridges from my neighborhood. I asked the city manager to have lunch with me but he declined. I wanted to have lunch with the city manager and tell him just how many people in Asheville do not want Chad in their neighborhood. We know the DA cleared Chad but we still have a problem. If Chad shows up in my neighborhood then I want him to come with police escorts and advance notice. I will pick the police escorts because there are some Asheville officers that won’t let Chad do anything. It is fine if the city thinks they need to use my tax money to pay officers to show up when Ried is around but I want them to pay officers to show up when Officer Chad Bridges is in my neighborhood too, in all fairness. I am actually scared to death of Asheville Officer Chad Bridges. If I ever come face to face with him I will probably freeze. Maybe I will be calm enough to ask him a few questions. Maybe Chad will freak out if he sees me. Maybe I will get nauseous. Who knows what will happen. But if the city thinks that he is fit for duty then we might run into each other. Kyle