EVENTS UNFOLD DURING TASK FORCE INVESTIGATION

BRENTWOOD -- The 200-page report released by the Rockingham County
Attorney's Office Friday may not have found sufficient evidence to charge
anyone connected to the alleged assault of a Portsmouth police officer, but
it does state that a 10-month investigation into the St. Patrick's Day
incident raised "disturbing facts" about the New Hampshire Attorney
General's Drug Task Force.

What follows is a description of events that started it all, as described
in the report:

Paddy's Restaurant

Members of the Drug Task Force and other police officers, including
Detective Steve Arnold of the Portsmouth Police Department, were at Paddy's
from about 7 to 11 p.m.

Toward the end of the evening, there were heated words between Officer
Patrick Kilbreath of the Dover Police Department and Arnold and Officer
Kyle True of the Newmarket Police Department and Arnold.

There was also, the report states, pushing and shoving between True and
Arnold. Arnold described an incident in which he was pulled upright off his
chair by True. Witnesses say Arnold ended up on the floor of the restaurant.

Police officers, civilians and the employees of the restaurant who were not
involved heard the commotion and witnessed the exchanges, the reports
states. At about 11 p.m., a Paddy's assistant manager asked the officers to
quiet down, finally asking them to leave because of their behavior.

Later, True asked Arnold to talk to him outside. As the two men walked
outside, Arnold noticed Officer Tom Southwick of the Raymond Police
Department removing his shirt and standing outside in a muscle shirt,
despite the fact that it was snowing.

In the parking lot, the discussion between True and Arnold turned into
another altercation, with both of them ending up on the ground with Arnold
on top of True.

Southwick then grabbed Arnold and threw him away from True, as witnessed by
civilians, and other police officers stepped in and broke up the fight.

When notified of the incident in the parking lot, restaurant management
called the Portsmouth Police Department. By the time Portsmouth officers
responded, however, the altercation was over and the participants had left
the parking lot.

The officers involved in the Paddy's incident have since met and "buried
the hatchet" over the accident. A lot of the officers involved have been
subject to internal investigations by their respective chiefs, the report
states.

"In essence, at Paddy's Restaurant a number of police officers had been
drinking, got rowdy, got in physical confrontations, got caught and got
investigated by their chiefs," the report states.

"Unfortunately, the problem and investigation does not end there," the
report adds.

Gilley's Restaurant

During the early morning hours of the next day, at Gilley's Restaurant in
downtown Portsmouth, another incident occurred.This one involved two
civilians as well as DTF members Southwick and Officer John Petrosh of the
Exeter Police Department.

According to the report, Petrosh took offense to being bumped or looked at
by another person inside Gilley's. The actual details of how the
confrontation began or who instigated it are not clear. The confrontation
did involve shoving.

Also according to the report, the cook at Gilley's threw at least one of
the individuals out of the restaurant and then called the police. True and
Southwick also left Gilley's.

Outside the restaurant, the confrontation resumed between the civilians and
Petrosh and Southwick, with blows apparently being exchanged. True and
Kilbreath broke up the fights, without identifying themselves as police
officers. The other victim, who has not been identified, was escorted away
from the fight by True.

When Portsmouth police officers responded to the calls about the fights,
the crowd scattered. The officers found one of the civilians, who had been
in a fight and was clearly intoxicated. The civilian had taken off his
glasses prior to the fight and could not accurately identify any
individuals who may been been involved.

Officer David Colby, who had gone to the Police Academy with True,
recognized him and talked to him. None of the members of the DTF
volunteered information to the investigating Portsmouth officers about the
fights.

The responding Portsmouth officers were unable to determine much of what
occurred or identify the participants and dismissed the incident as another
fight between the civilian and unidentified individuals drinking to excess.

"In summary, the DTF members, Southwick and Petrosh, were either involved
in assaulting civilians, involved in mutual combat, or possibly defending
themselves," the report states. "At this time, we do not now which is true.
Thus, without further witnesses, there is not enough evidence to bring any
criminal charges against anyone."

The spark

The second altercations at Paddy's between True and Arnold, led to the
report's allegations that task force members drank on the job.

The incident is described in a report compiled by Portsmouth Police Capt.
Bill Irving:

Sometime prior to the event, a Durham police officer assigned to the task
force was wired and doing an undercover drug buy. His team members were
monitoring the wire.

Apparently, when he came out from doing the buy, he found that his team
members were drinking alcoholic beverages in the car while monitoring his
activities. He was extremely upset and reported the incident.

An investigation apparently cleared the task force members. They all denied
drinking during this incident.

True, however, did not answer the question when asked. He replied that he
would not answer without speaking to a lawyer.

The dispute between True an Arnold was apparently over whether Arnold had
"ratted" True out over the incident.