PITTS AGAIN WARNS COMMUNITY TO LISTEN TO HIM

LIMA - A city leader and community activist is telling everyone to
"wake up" while warning the criminal justice system is drifting down
the same path that led to the fatal police shooting of a woman
during a January drug raid.

Police and others in the community have operated in the same way
that created the conditions that led to the shooting of 26-year-old
Tarika Wilson, a mother of six, inside her East Third Street home
Jan. 4, said Fifth Ward City Councilman Tommy Pitts.

Pitts also repeated what he has for the past year about disparities
in arrest procedures with black and white drug dealers. That
disparity showed through court records blacks were allowed to make
more drug sales than whites in similar circumstances.

On top of that, the additional buys meant more charges and more
prison time as is the case with Anthony Terry, the man police were
after during the botched raid, Pitts said.

"When it comes to healing there can be no healing until there is
equal justice," he said.

Pitts, who has never said blacks should be treated better only equal
in drug arrests, was speaking after reading in the newspaper Terry
is scheduled to plea and possibly go to prison for up to five years.

Pitts' comments are far from the first time he has addressed the disparity.

Although some have seemed to not take Pitts serious for addressing
race issues as it relates to drug arrests, especially since he first
raised it while his sons were facing drug charges, he has continued
to push the issue long after the cases against his sons were over
and the time.

Pitts has backed his claims with a detailed review of court records
that showed black drug dealers were allowed to make more sales,
faced more charges and more time behind bars.

"People don't like to talk about race issues. It's not a subject
that I particularly like to talk about myself but at times
necessary," he said.

Pitts is critical of the way police handled the drug investigation
against Terry which allowed Terry to allegedly make seven drug sales
before police decided to raid the home of his girlfriend, Wilson,
where Terry frequently stayed.

"If they had arrested him after his first or second sale like they
do the white guys that girl would still be alive today. This police
officer would not be in the position he is in today and the
community wouldn't be in the state we're in today," he said. "It's
time for people to wake up."

Pitts further said the police shooting was not the start of a divide
along racial lines in the community it just moved it into the spotlight.

Pitts also was critical of a plan by some Lima police officers to
sell bracelets that show support for Sgt. Joe Chavalia, who fatally
shot Wilson and wounded her 1-year-old son, Sincere.

The first plan for the bracelets was said to support the acquittal
of Chavalia but that has changed to say something along the lines of
"Justice for All."

Pitts said he understands police supporting a fellow officer but it
shouldn't be done in a public way that creates an "us against them"
atmosphere.

"It really goes to show you how they feel about African Americans in
this community and they wonder why there is no trust. This is just
another reason why there is no trust," Pitts said. "Where is the
support in the police department for this woman who lost her life."

Lima police Maj. Kevin Martin said the sales of bracelets was
something the local union had planned, not the department or the
police administration. He suggested getting comment from police
union representative Scott Leland who declined to comment.