BELOW IS THE TEXT OF THE MOTION FILED ON BEHALF OF PETE HOPKINS REQUESTING HIS IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM CUSTODY.
THE HEARING IS SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 9, 2008 AT 9:30 AM IN COURT ROOM 504 OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER (13TH AND FILBERT STREETS.).
“If you buy Ramsey’s latest story, he either withheld information from the public that this fourth person – the gunman – really didn’t exist and wasn’t running the streets of North Philly, or a narcotics officer who was an eye witness stepped forward nine days later and miraculously remembered that Mr. Hopkins was the shooter.” – D. Scott Perrine, Esq.
CONTACT NUMBER: 215-545-1155
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – On May 6, 2008, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Pete Hopkins and Brian Hall were charged by District Attorney Lynne Abraham with attempted murder and other “related” charges after they, along with Dwayne Dyches, were viciously beaten and stomped by police. On May 7, 2008, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Mr. Dyches, was charged with attempted murder and identical lesser offenses.
Before any of the three men were charged, the Police Department was required to generate a Philadelphia Police Department Arrest Report (commonly referred to as a PARS report). This is the official police account of the facts and evidence that gave rise to the arrest of these three defendants. This report cannot be altered for any reason after it is sent to the district attorney for charging. In this instance, the Philadelphia Police Department’s factual allegations that were the basis for the arrest of Pete Hopkins and Brian Hall were finalized by the police department, forwarded to the district attorney, and released to the bail commissioner before 10:30 p.m. on May 6, 2008, and before 8:00 a.m. on May 7, 2008, for Mr. Dyches.
Mr. Perrine represented Pete Hopkins and Brian Hall at their bail hearings at 10:30 p.m. on May 6, 2008. At that bail hearing, the bail commissioner read the allegations contained in the PARS report, reviewed the criminal history of both defendants and set bail. Mr. Perrine was permitted to review both PARS reports and was given a copy of the criminal complaint against Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall. At that time, consistent with the Commissioner’s public statement, there was no allegation whatsoever that Mr. Hopkins was the shooter or driver of the vehicle. Similarly, there was no allegation Mr. Hall was the shooter. The factual allegations in Mr. Hall and Mr. Hopkins’ PARS reports were identical. The charges brought by District Attorney Lynne Abraham were also the same for both men. Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall were both charged with 3 counts each of attempted murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit murder, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm in a public place, possessing an instrument of crime, terroristic threats, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. The record of the hearing clearly indicates that the bail commissioner did not set bail based on the role played by any of the men in the alleged crime. Bail was set based on Mr. Hopkins prior record which included a determination of delinquency in Family Court Proceedings and an existing case alleging one count of criminal trespass. Mr. Hall had no criminal record, hence, his bail was significantly lower than Mr. Hopkins.
For some still unexplained reason, Dwayne Dyches’ bail hearing took place the next morning at approximately 8:00 a.m., May 7, 2008. Mr. Dyches was charged with the identical charges as Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall.
By 10:30 p.m. on May 6, 2008, a finalized, unalterable, official police report (PARS) was issued to the district attorney who charged Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall. The PARS report and the criminal complaint containing the charges signed by Lynne Abraham was passed to the bail commissioner. “It’s not a particularly complicated process. The police write down the facts and send them to the district attorney. The story Ramsey told on May 6, 2008, must be the same story in the police report he gave the district attorney and the bail commissioner,” Perrine said. “He was telling the same story he told before 10:30 p.m. on May 6, 2008, that he told all through his interviews for eight days. When the official story didn’t add up, he changed it.”
“Commissioner Ramsey’s collection of statements between May 6, 2008, and May 16, 2008, viewed in connection with the facts contained in the official documents the Philadelphia Police Department provided the district attorney’s office before Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall had their bail hearing on May 6, 2008, at 10:00 p.m., make it clear that the department is attempting to slowly and quietly change the facts to suit the charges.”
On May 6th, 2008, Police Commissioner Ramsey called his own press conference where he laid out in exacting detail the facts, evidence, and police observations that were obtained and gave rise to the arrest of Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Dyches. Ramsey was neither vague nor imprecise at this press conference where his comments were video and audio recorded by numerous media outlets and reporters. In his statement, Ramsey outlined the official police version of the facts that had already been submitted to the district attorney’s office (the PARS report), thus making any subsequent alteration entirely impermissible.
Ramsey’s statements were as follows:
"Some of our NET team officers -- that's the Narcotics Enforcement Team -- from the 25th District were on a surveillance at 4th and Ansbury," Ramsey said.
"Officers were working a on a murder investigation when the suspects suddenly pulled up in their car.”
"Four individuals got out and they walked up to a group that was standing on the corner. One of those individuals opened fire and shot three individuals on the corner of 4th and Ansbury while the officers were watching this," Ramsey said. (NBC News 10, May 6, 2008; and other multiple sources, video and print)
He went on to state that the surveillance team was posted at 4th and Ansberry “hoping to arrest drug suspects and question them about the slaying of Andrew Coach on Sunday.” (Philadelphia Daily News: “Police beating ‘certainly does not look good” May 7, 2008).
The Inquirer reported on May 7, 2008, that, “The gunman fled on foot, police said, and the three companions drove off in the car, precipitating the police chase.”
On national television, Ramsey declared to CNN’s John Roberts, “The man who fired took off running and his three companions got back in the Grand Marquis and drove off, with police in pursuit. That's when police pulled over Hall, Dyches and Hopkins.”
On May 8, 2008, Ramsey appeared on Good Morning America and stated, "The officers never lost sight of that vehicle," said Ramsey. "That car was the one the officers stopped — the one that appears in the video tape."
These quotes are repeated in countless newspapers and television reports in response to the public’s demand to know what caused police to stop the vehicle that contained Mr. Hall, Mr. Hopkins, and Mr. Dyches.
D. Scott Perrine, Esq., Mr. Hopkins attorney, who served as an Assistant District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia from 2004 to 2007 said, “What everyone fails to understand is that the police completed their official report as to what transpired during the shooting and submitted it to District Attorney Lynne Abraham before Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall were charged with attempted murder on May 6, 2008 at 10:00 p.m.. Ramsey’s statements should be exactly what we read in the PARS report his department gave to the district attorney for charging and then passed on to the bail commissioner.”
He went on to say, “After representing Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Hall at their bail hearings on May 6, 2008, where the PARS report was reviewed and then listening to the facts set forth by the Commissioner, it was painfully obvious that official story they put out was nonsense.” He added, “Keep in mind that this story comes from the same place and the same officers who had just finished punching, stomping, kicking and beating these three guys with night sticks. If you think you’re above the law enough to behave that way out in the open on the street, it is doubtful you will behave much differently behind closed doors when writing up your report.”
“Commissioner Ramsey decided when he was prepared to give official comment and he certainly knew that nothing less than the truth would be acceptable as group of his own officers had just been caught acting like savages beating on the same people who he was going to alleged engaged in criminal activity.” Once the Commissioner’s statement and the facts alleged by police were scrutinized by the press, the Commissioner and his spokesman held to their story until the day before the preliminary hearing. (See Philadelphia Daily News, May 16, 2008).
“One thing is certain, the most recently revised version of the story the police department tells is even more suspicious than the first. They are asking us to believe that a highly trained narcotics officer skilled in surveillance operations was at the scene, watched the car pull up, saw three people instead of four and, because he is so well trained in surveillance, he knows that Mr. Hopkins was the shooter. And by the way, this officer forgot to tell us about this for nine days,” Perrine said.
On May 16, 2008, Ramsey tried to explain this away on Fox 29 News calling it a mere “discrepancy” between the surveillance officer and a witness who he talks about for the first time. Perrine responded, “The surveillance officers were there that night and made the report that was used by Ramsey, the district attorney and the bail commissioner. Ramsey is changing the details and adding witnesses we would have heard about long before the preliminary hearing. If the narcotics officer had identified Mr. Hopkins as the shooter it would have been in the PARS report. If you buy Ramsey’s latest story, he either withheld information from the public that this fourth person – the gunman – really didn’t exist and wasn’t running the streets of North Philly, or a narcotics officer who was an eye witness stepped forward nine days later and miraculously remembered that Mr. Hopkins was the shooter.”
Mr. Perrine concluded, “We started examining the Commissioner’s latest version of events and plan on addressing them in the very near future. This entire incident from the time I got to the hospital at 2:00 a.m. on May 6, 2008, has been so far beyond what anyone would expect or tolerate from law enforcement it cannot be described. These guys are getting beaten and stomped on all over again and no one is realizing it.”
Facts alleged by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Ramsey regarding the accusations against three defendants who were brutally beaten by Philadelphia Police Monday night raise serious questions and concerns about the credibility of Ramsey’s story.
Police Commissioner Ramsey’s statement that Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall, and Pete Hopkins were allegedly involved in a shooting minutes before they were savagely beaten by police leaves too many unanswered questions. The Commissioner stated that on Monday, May 5, 2008, at about ten o’clock a team of highly trained Narcotics Enforcement Team (NET) officers from the 25th District were staked out conducting surveillance at the corner of Fourth and Ansberry Streets because Andrew Coach was shot and killed at that location the night before. According to the Commissioner, a gold Mercury Grand Marquis pulled up at the exact same location where the NET officers were parked. The Commissioner reported that four individuals exited the vehicle and walked up to a group that was standing at the corner. He stated that the NET officers watched one of the individuals open fire and shoot three people at the corner of Fourth and Ansberry Streets. He said the three men who police later identified as Dwayne Dyches, Brian Hall, and Pete Hopkins got back into the gold marquis and proceeded to drive away. He claimed that the unidentified shooter took off on foot. (Commissioner Ramsey, May 6, 2008).
In response to the shooting the NET officers "got on the radio and called for assistance and told people what they had." He said that "a pursuit ensued and then in the 3700 block of North 2nd Street the car was eventually pulled over." (Commissioner Ramsey, May 6, 2008).
After these supposed events took place, Dyches, Hall, and Hopkins were ripped from their vehicle and beaten by police as seen on the video recorded by the Fox News helicopter. All three were charged with attempted murder based on the allegation that they along with the still-at-large unidentified shooter were involved in conspiracy to murder someone at the corner of Fourth and Ansberry where police were stationed.
After reviewing the facts alleged by the Commissioner, Mr. Perrine stated, "The allegations laid out by the Commissioner raise so many questions and concerns that the story hardly seems credible." Perrine went on to list the disturbing collection of questions and issues that surround the allegations by the Commissioner.
These questions plus countless others raised by the community in North Philadelphia demonstrate that normal police practices and investigatory methods have been abandoned. The beating of these three defendants coupled with the peculiar manner police have dealt with this investigation requires that federal authorities handle this investigation.
The Diamond Empowerment Community Group has organized a community meeting to discuss the neighborhood’s interests and concerns. Special invitees include District Elected Officials, Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Ramsey. The meeting will be held tonight, Friday May 9 2008 at 6:30 PM at 8th and Diamond Playground (2032-60 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122).
Diamond Empowerment Community Group
Diamond Empowerment Community Group was created in 2006 by residents of the community.
Contact information:
Karen Miller
Executive Director
(215) 765-3015
(215) 290-9620