The agenda for the City Council work session on Tuesday, June 1 is not what is expected at this time of year, which for the City Council is budget season.
Greensboro City Manager David Parrish presented his recommended budget for 2021-2022 on May 18, and on June 15 the City Council is scheduled to pass its own version of that budget of more than $617 million.
How much more and how that $617 million-plus will be spent is what the City Council would like to determine in the next two weeks.
However, the June 1 City Council meeting has a topic far more contentious than whether or not to start supplying Greensboro police officers with take home cars similar to the other municipalities in the area.
City Councilmember Michelle Kennedy has asked for the City Council to discuss an independent investigation of the events involving Marcus Deon ,Smith who died on Sept. 8, 2018 after being in police custody.
The “Budget Cycle Update” is the first item on the work session agenda. However, it is just as common for Mayor Nancy Vaughan to take items on the work session agenda out of order than it is to take them in order.
And the second item is “Independent Investigation Discussions,” which may sound obtuse but it is better than the agenda item to appoint Assistant City Manager Chris Wilson as interim city manager. The agenda item for that vote, which included no discussion, was, “Matters to be Discussed by the City Council.”
Kennedy has already stated that she is in favor of the City Council authorizing an independent investigation of the death of Marcus Smith. City Attorney Chuck Watts has also previously told the City Council that from a legal perspective it would not be advisable to conduct an independent investigation while the city is being sued. The parents of Marcus Smith, George and Mary Smith, filed a wrongful death suit against the City of Greensboro, the police officers involved, Guilford County and the Emergency Medical Services technicians on the scene.
The city has made an offer to settle that lawsuit, but no settlement has been reached and the lawsuit is ongoing.
After the State Bureau of Investigation had completed its investigation of the incident, the Guilford County district attorney determined that no charges would be brought against any of the police officers or Emergency Medical Services personnel involved.
According to the autopsy by North Carolina medical examiner’s office, the cause of Smith’s death was “Sudden cardiopulmonary arrest, due to: Prone Restraint; n-ethylpentalone, cocaine and alcohol use; and hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
The police had placed Smith in a Ripp-Hobble restraint, which bound his ankles to his handcuffed arms behind his back. Shortly after being placed in the restraint, Smith stopped breathing. He was released from the restraints and transported by EMS to Cone Hospital but never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at the hospital according to the autopsy report.
Kennedy is in favor of authorizing an independent investigation, but the question is whether she has the necessary five votes to have the City Council authorize an investigation.
One fact left out. Marcus Smith only asked for help.
He was treated like human garbage and died from homicide at the hands of trained Greensboro peace officers that used a device known to kill when used against recommendations. The Mayor and Chief tried to cover up, mislead, and still are in deny deny deny mode. For shame.
Theres not an ounce of shame. This is NOT “homicide” it’s a slow inevitable suicide from years of putting toxic chemicals into the body assuming there are no consequences for same. Smith punched his own ticket. Police & EMS just happened to be present & have a duty to act. Certain behaviors are acceptable in society and others are not and can even harm other passers by. They did their jobs, thank them & move on. In my opinion forget a settlement, they’re doing the family a favor by not sending them an invoice for services rendered.
Marcus Smith is a sad example of mental illness combined with years of self medicating drug abuse. If one of our idiot council members would study excited delirium they would know that once the subject starts the running and inability to stay still, they are for all intents and purposes already dead. The running is because their body is trying to force oxygen into the body to keep them alive. This is taught in EMT school. However, after weekly reading all of the stupid, uneducated comments by our “leadership” on council I have given up on any of them educating themselves on the medical issues associated with this particular situation. The autopsy states asphyxia but it also states degenerative heart disease and a multitude of drugs in his system. Let’s ignore that and write his parents, who in NC are not Mr. Smiths legal heirs, his children are, a check. Kennedy is not serving the city and it’s citizens. She is serving her own agenda and political ideology and damns what is best for the city. Citizens must come out is droves and vote her off council. She will bus up all of her homeless friends (in the free city van she received) to bundle votes.
I would like Kennedy to watch the full body camera videos in open council (in chambers with real people in the audience, not on bleeping Zoom with a kid on her lap) and explain to the public what she would have done on the call. How would you handle it Councilperson Kennedy? Explain to all of us how excited delirium works. Please share all of your extensive knowledge on law enforcement, BLET, criminal law in NC, probable cause, dealing with drug addicts, responding to medical calls. All of this for the lowest salary in Guilford County, crappy benefits, low morale, demographic promotions, and no support for ANY mistakes after minimum training conducted by the same instructors that have been teaching for years. I want Kennedy to explain to us without the cover of a leftist political ideology what the F she would have done. And if you are going to write a check, put it in an independent trust for his CHILDREN! What did his parents do when Mr. Smith was homeless, suffering from mental illness, and self medicating with drugs? They sure as hell are visible now. His mother was on MSNBC talking about Marcus being beaten to death which has never been stated and is a lie. But go ahead, write her a check. Please conduct an independent investigation against the city attorney’s advice. Maybe the BLM person who just resigned her post after buying $4 million in property can come and do the investigation. I’m sure a reputable independent investigator with no links to radical anti police politics will be Kennedy’s choice for the “independent” investigation.
I can tell by your posts that you think cops do no wrong and should never be held liable when they kill people.
That is an unequivocal lie. I actually am a proponent for officers who go outside of their training and/or break the law (i.e. Derek Chauvin and the female outside of Minneapolis who use her gun instead of a Taser). However, it is exhausting for persons who have not bothered to study the individual circumstances of each incident on its on merits to continue to act like every case is the same and all police are the same. That is uneducated, low rent thinking. What you have to remember is that at the time GPD officers under Chief Wayne Scott were trained to use the Ripp Hobble and according to the video it was implemented correctly after Mr. Smith was corralled in the middle of a public street for several minutes, asked to be put in the police car to be taken to Cone, then began banging his head on the window, asked to be let out (which they did), and then according to the policy at the time the device was applied. As soon as he stopped breathing they took off the hobble. Instead of accusing me of “thinking cops do no wrong” which is not true, watch the video and please tell me within the law and police training what the officers should have done. Tell me how they “killed people” and mistreated Mr. Smith. This is all public information.
Let me tell you what I do think is “wrong.” City Council members who must have a political financial motivation (remember the IRC gets free cars and funding-Kennedy’s salary among other things) to continually inflame the public. She is doing this against the advice of the city attorney council employs and the (as usual) outside council. It seems to me that certain council members want a crappy, low rent police department. With lowering standards of who they hire and then promoting persons into leadership positions because of who they are buddies with or what box they check you can expect the continuation of issues within the local police force. You get what you pay for. I am actually all for the reduction of the authorized strength of GPD (they will never fill the spots anyway) and the hiring of more educated, trained officers and a promotional system with rankings and a not secret list (which council years ago paid $250,000 to a consulting firm who recommended this but the recommendations were dismantled starting with Miller and absolutely destroyed by Scott).
Cops who break the law must be held accountable. Councilwoman who are anti- American ( representatives of communist party) shall be removed from office. Car seat NOT included!
Vote Ms. Kennedy off!
Kennedy should be sanctioned for even bringing this up as she has personal ties to Smith who was a criminal, drug addict, and had mental health problems. Maybe they share some of those attributes as well?
The biggest criminals the day Marcus Smith were killed where the Greensboro police. Those criminals committed negligent homicide by using the rip hobble device which police already know have an elevated risk of death. That’s what you get for taking disinformation written by half-truth hammer and assuming that it is factual in some way.
Kennedy has got to go in the next election. Why? She’s incompetent for one, and she gets “surplus” vehicles from the City and then resells them later at a profit, versus donating them to another “charity.”
You’re one of those people that have been tricked into thinking that helping out poor people is somehow bad. When in reality that mentality makes the richest in our society throw everybody else under the bus and then the sycophant peasant class laps it up like a kitten drinking milk.
And what school of psychology did you get your degree? And if it weren’t for the rich people in our world, there’d be no hospitals, colleges, etc. Guess you didn’t take a course in basic economics.
Getting favored treatment on vehicles from the City, then using them a year or two, then selling them to fill her 501C-3? Why not donate it to another charity?
If proper socialism were implemented we wouldn’t need rich people to do anything for us because that would be the role of the government. Instead we have a government that’s bought and paid for by billionaires the benefit of those billionaires and to the detriment of the other 99.9% of society
You do realize someone has to actually FUND the government? You libtards never cease to amaze us with your humorous antics.
Reykjavík is the only place true socialism actually works. People there respect each other and the demographics are notably different than most libtard nations.
Socialism. . . . .I have two cows, and you take one of them to give to someone else who has none.
Is she really “helping” them? There seems to be a distinct lack of success stories rolling out of the IRC. And judging by the ever growing masses of people begging on literally every street corner in the city, I doubt she can tout ANY success stories. Not to oversimplify, but feeding a bunch of stray cats helps neither the cats, nor the environment the cats inhabit. Feeding homeless guys everyday without giving them an avenue to escape homelessness is not helping anyone either.
If you ever bother to visit the IRC, and I have, you see the equivelant of adult daycare and little else. There is no perfect solution, but if you are seeing the same people in there year in and year out, then you are not helping them escape homelessness. Seems more like a money making opportunity for Kennedy as well as a guaranteed source of votes to keep her in office.
Any Council member who doesn’t believe in American should NOT be allowed to vote on this issue or any other issue that involves Americans. GOD BLESS America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flags are merely little bits of cloth with no actual meaning.
Are you of the “one world, one order” mentality?
You say that like it is bad. Nationalism such as what you were describing is the ultimate evil.
You don’t know what ultimate evil is, hon.
B- is the American flag a bit of cloth with no actual meaning to you?
To turn against our country from which we are born without pledge for where we stand is treason and can not be forgiven. That makes me vomit. Why did we let our city get in such bad shape. Lets raise our heads and look upward and hope that things will get better for ALL to have peace within ourselves and to appreciate life for as long as we are here on this land of America. Let make the things that we hope for come true. Please vote for a better world and a city that we can be proud of all the time that we are here. We can do it!!!!!!!!!!
There was some pretty horrific things that are presented to us under the guise of that flag. Things that if you support make you a rather evil person. But for Republican being evil is a campaign strategy
Deareat B,
I’m no Republican but I know that flag was bought and paid for by the blood of countless patriots. It flies on the last breath of every soldier who fought and died for the rights & traditions you spit on. If you don’t love our country and it’s symbolism, get out!
So you claim you’re not a republican but you just use the worn-out old line of America love it or leave it
So if you think that not standing for the flag is treason then you must be all up in arms about what happened on January 6th but because it’s a white supremacist Republican action I doubt you have any problems with it whatsoever.
Nationalism is here to stay.
I do not agree with any of the statements you have made, but, this is America. You have the right to your opinion and to express it. However, that flag is not “just a piece of cloth”. It is the symbol of the most open and democratic republic on the face of this earth. My father, six uncles and my father-in-law all fought in WWII to preserve our freedom. That “piece of cloth” was carried all over Europe and the Pacific. It was a point of pride when it was raised on Iwo Jima. My father’s B-24 liberator had it as nose art named “Old Glory”. Your feelings about this country simply show your ignorance.
It’s time to tar and feather b
Nothing like the Rhino to publish a call to lynching
Ricky tarred and feathered is far from lynching
Ricky where you from boy me thinks you’re from the other side of the Mason Dixon
That’s a waste of time & materials that are deserving of a better fate.
“City Council work session”. Isn’t that an oxymoron? Other than CYA, is any productive work actually being performed?
The fact that the Smith incident is still being discussed and delaying City business shows that political correctness and socialism have become the norm in Greensboro and the US. Unless there are enough people to out-vote this mindset in future elections there is no turning back and the mindless progression will continue.
I encourage anyone who is still willing to think to watch the interview that Jordan Peterson did on his YouTube channel with Yeonmi Park on S4;E26 on May 31, 2021 Tyranny, Slavery and Columbia University. It’s the most powerful interview I’ve ever seen and will help you understand where we are headed as a country.