ARREST WILL BE PROBED BY SBI

Witnesses Say That Two Deputies Beat Suspect In The Head

The SBI has been called in to investigate allegations of excessive force by
two Forsyth County sheriff's deputies during their arrest of a man early
Sunday morning.

Nakia Miguel Glenn was in critical condition last night at Forsyth Medical
Center. He has been in a coma since shortly after he was pulled over just
after 3 at 21st Street and Cleveland Avenue. The sheriff's office has said
that the deputies acted appropriately after a routine traffic stop, but
some witnesses say that the officers beat Glenn in the head with
flashlights. At the hospital, doctors found a wad of cocaine lodged in his
throat.

Sheriff Ron Barker and Tom Keith, the Forsyth County district attorney,
requested the investigation, which will be conducted by State Bureau of
Investigation agents who aren't based in Winston-Salem.

"After our initial review of this and considering the serious condition of
Mr. Glenn, we feel it is in the best interest of the community to have an
inquiry conducted by an outside agency," said Assistant Sheriff Allen
Gentry of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.

An internal investigation also is under way, said Col. Danny Tuttle, a
spokesman for Barker. But the two deputies, S.D. Wells and G.L. Simpson,
are still on duty, according to the department.

Wells was cleared of any wrongdoing in January after an incident in which
residents on 22nd Street complained of excessive force in the arrest of
Confucious Ledrell Patterson. Patterson, 20, faced numerous charges,
including fleeing to elude arrest and two counts of trafficking cocaine.

In that case, the sheriff said that his deputies, who were acting on a tip
about drug sales, were not out of line. He showed videotapes from
patrol-car cameras that he said supported the deputies' actions.

The sheriff's office would not release videotapes from cameras in the two
patrol cars that initiated the stop on Cleveland Avenue. Tapes of police
and paramedic radio traffic during the incident also are not being released
because of the pending investigation, Keith said.

The sheriff's office said that two deputies who work on its Highway
Interdiction Team spotted Glenn driving erratically and they pulled him
over. Gentry declined to answer questions about the officer's actions,
including where they began following Glenn. Friends and relatives said that
Glenn was coming from a club in southern Winston-Salem.

The deputies - one in a Camaro and the other in a Crown Victoria with a
police dog in back - typically spend most of their time on Interstate 40
and U.S. 52. The unit's main objective is to enforce traffic laws.

Sheriff's deputies routinely make arrests in Winston-Salem, said Assistant
Chief Pat Norris of the Winston-Salem Police Department. She said that the
agencies occasionally work together on cases "but they are not bound to
tell us what they are doing."

During the traffic stop, deputies told Glenn to get out of the car, put his
hands on the trunk and spread his legs, according to witnesses. He balked
when they began to handcuff him after they had initially told him that he
wasn't under arrest, said Christopher Peoples, a cousin who said he watched
the incident from his house at 1206 E. 21st St.

As deputies were attempting to handcuff Glenn, the passenger in the car
left. At some point during the incident, one deputy called on his dog to
subdue Glenn, who bit the dog in the face. During the scuffle, Glenn also
bit a deputy on the hand, according to the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office said that Glenn then ran to the passenger seat of the
Pontiac. But Peoples said that his cousin was crawling away from the dog
and the deputies, who beat him in the back of the head with flashlights.

It is not clear when Glenn swallowed the cocaine.

Peoples said that Glenn was talking clearly and cooperating with deputies
just after being pulled over. "They asked for his driver's license, and he
gave one to them," Peoples said. But Glenn appeared to be unconscious
before an ambulance arrived, according to Peoples and others who gathered
at the scene.

Deputies requested an ambulance at 3:24 a.m., said Neal Sizemore, the
Forsyth County communications supervisor. The request was labeled "10-18"
in police-radio talk, or "an urgent matter." The paramedics left the scene
at 3:50, Sizemore said.

Doctors removed the bag of cocaine from Glenn's throat when they tried to
clear an airway in the emergency room at Forsyth Medical Center, according
to the sheriff's office. Glenn stopped breathing several times and remains
on a ventilator, according to family members.

Glenn also suffered from a wound in the back of his head, which required
surgical staples, his relatives said.

He was charged with driving while impaired, Tuttle said. No other charges
had been filed last night.

During his arrest, deputies called the sheriff's office for backup. They
also got help from Winston-Salem police officers, who filed 14 reports on
the incident, Norris said.

Glenn is on probation after serving time in prison on drug charges.

He was most recently convicted in April 1999 and was released in January
2000, said Keith Acree, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction.