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Seattle police officer in shooting has clashed with Hells Angels before |
| Name: |
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Mike Carter |
| Date Posted: |
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Aug 24, 08 - 5:05 AM |
| Web Page |
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2008133471&zsection_id=2003925728&slug=sturgis23m&date=20080823 |
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The off-duty Seattle police detective who shot and seriously wounded a Hells Angel in a bar fight at a South Dakota motorcycle rally earlier this month has clashed with a member of the outlaw motorcycle club before, according to court records, police reports and interviews.
Detective Ron Smith filed charges against a Seattle Hells Angel in 2005, alleging that Anthony James Magnesi, a member of the Washington Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels, had threatened him over the phone.
Magnesi, in turn, recorded one of their phone conversations and gave it to the police department's Office of Professional Accountability (OPA), claiming it was Smith who had threatened him.
An internal investigation was opened, and the incident was referred to Smith's supervisor as a training issue, according to OPA officials.
The misdemeanour criminal charges filed by Smith against the biker were dismissed after Magnesi's lawyers played the tape for city prosecutors, according to Magnesi's attorney, Paul Bernstein, and court records.
On a copy of the tape given to The Seattle Times by Bernstein, Smith calls Magnesi a "dirtbag," taunts him about suspected criminal activity — although Magnesi was not under investigation by Smith and has never been convicted of a serious crime — and tells him "you better watch your back."
Smith tells Magnesi that simply "being a member of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang is a ... crime."
The detective also boasts that he's a member of the biggest "gang" of all: "It's called law enforcement. You got it?"
The recording contains only Smith's side of the conversation — what Magnesi is saying can't be heard. Bernstein said the recording device was set up that way.
Magnesi declined to be interviewed for this story, but gave Bernstein permission to discuss the incident.
Officer an avid biker, too
Smith, an avid biker himself and a member of the Iron Pigs Motorcycle Club, which draws its riders from police and firefighters, frequently opines about the scourge of "outlaw bikers" in a regular column he writes as editor of The Guardian, the Seattle Police Officer Guild's newspaper.
It is not known whether Smith's apparent contempt for the Hells Angels played a role in the incident in Sturgis, S.D. What is known is that, among an estimated 500 revelers at the Loud American Roadhouse early on the morning of Aug. 9, it was Smith who wound up in a confrontation with members of the gang.
Smith won't talk about it or his earlier run-in with Magnesi, and the Seattle Police Department is withholding comment pending a criminal investigation by a grand jury in Meade County, S.D., said spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb. The grand jury reconvenes on Wednesday.
Authorities in South Dakota have also declined to comment on the investigation. |
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