Letter to the Editor
Residents of Cherry Tree Crossing public housing need to take a deep breath before they continue lionizing a suspected drug dealer and demonizing the sheriff's deputies who tried to stop him.
A crowd became unruly again, throwing rocks and bottles, at a candlelight vigil for Justin Leonard Elmore after he died Tuesday. A crowd of 200 or more did that and more Sunday night after two Richmond County sheriff's deputies sandwiched Elmore's stolen SUV with their patrol cars and he rammed one and attempted to drive off, toward the other officer. Authorities say that officer, the one in front of Elmore's stolen car, fired at him.
Residents at the city's largest public housing project are naturally upset about such violence occurring in their neighborhood. But they need to calmly reassess who caused it, and whose side they're on.
Certainly if it turns out the officers acted inappropriately, we'll be the first to call for charges. But all the evidence is not in, and early reports indicate Elmore was clearly in the wrong.
His first mistake was to try to elude officers -- and to ram a patrol car in the process.
Regardless, residents of Cherry Tree need to be patient for the evidence to come in. They no doubt believe in Elmore's right to a presumption of innocence; shouldn't we afford our law enforcement officers the same benefit of the doubt?
On the other side of the coin, authorities need to throw the rule book out -- and get the evidence to the public. Immediately, if not sooner.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it will hold onto the patrol-car video of the incident as "evidence" in the case that will be kept from public view until the investigation is complete. That's simply not acceptable.
We understand what the book says. The book says you keep the evidence under lock and key. Well, the book doesn't take human beings and their emotions into account. The community needs to see this evidence now, not a month or six months from now.
We respectfully ask the GBI to depart from routine and release the video immediately. We call on Gov. Sonny Perdue to move to authorize it.
Further, we ask that Augusta's public and private-sector leaders -- the mayor, Augusta Commission, Augusta Housing Authority board members and community pastors -- step up to the microphone to echo our call for calm. We ask them to also express support for law and order, and -- absent some compelling reason to the contrary -- support for the good men and women of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.
It's time for some leadership.
