| Mrs. Denton Goes to Washington, I mean to the Dayton Council... |
Hello again Dayton Daily News readers. The first thing I must say to
you is that I am sorry it has been a few days since I last left you
hanging with the latest of Constable Denton, emeritus and Mrs. Denton's
dilemma in Dayton. Time has a way of getting away from me amongst
working, family, some socializing here and there. So I must tell you how
much I appreciate you checking back to see “what”s up”. Let’s see,
where did we leave off? Oh yes, I remember!
We left off when Mrs. Denton had called Mayor Vincent who had given
her words of encouragement. During their telephone conversation with
the mayor, Mrs. Denton then began to feel some relief that she was not
alone in knowing she had been mistreated at the Dayton City Police
Department. She told Mayor Vincent that when they first realized they
had been a victim of crime that she had tried to call Chief Sneed at the
DPD and that he was not there on several occasions. She also told mayor
Vincent that Chief Sneed's receptionist paged the Chief for her and he
still did not return phone calls. When she expressed this fact to the
Mayor, he himself stated that he himself had had trouble getting in
touch with the Chief Sneed at times when calling his office or paging
him. No wonder the Chief became so angry with her that day when he
was trying to instigate a physical confrontation with Constable Denton
when she told him that it would not have reached this point if he had
only returned her calls or answered her pages. Constable Denton had
then told the Chief Sneed that even the Mayor had said that he could
not reach him. Mrs. Denton told Chief Sneed at that point that the
Mayor told her that himself over the phone. Chief Sneed then pointed
at Mrs. Denton and yelled at her (much in the same fashion as
Investigator, Darrell Bell had and said, “You’re a liar!” (Wow, such
professional behavior). This man had never met Mrs. Denton before
this and he was yelling at her calling her a liar.
I hope I haven’t confused you. I had to add this important point since I
had neglected to include that in the story prior to this. You will have to
forgive me. It is just that the Dentons have had to clear a lot of hurdles
that look to have been intentionally placed before them by the very ones
with the power to help them. Okay, so to continue on, and on, and on, I
mean really folks it is sad with what the Dentons had to endure to finally
get restitution. You have to admit though it sure is an interesting story,
or at least I think it is, otherwise I would not want to tell it to you.
A couple of weeks had gone by since the threat of arrest by Investigator
, Darrell Bell, followed the next day by a confrontation by the Chief, the
Constable and Mrs. Denton did just what the retired Constable had told
the Chief they would do. They addressed this matter at the Dayton City
Council Meeting.
This is basically what was said to the Council and presented for public
record, but then folks, you know by now with my writing about the
Dentons that we have to put a little bit of humor in here and there,
because in a way that is what people tend to have to do to get through a
very rough time.
The Constable placed a call to the Dayton City Police Investigator at the
Dayton Police Department to request that he do an investigative report
as the Dentons were intending to press criminal charges on a fraudulent
and criminal contract with a person that portrayed himself as a licensed
contractor. After a lengthy discussion on the phone with the
Investigator, Constable Denton began to see he was getting nowhere,
and in fact, that his phone call to the Investigator was a waste of his
time, not the Investigator’s because he was on the payroll. Obviously
the Constable was wasting his time because he could see that the
Investigator was not going to write a report. They both began to get
upset with one another and the discussion turned somewhat personal and
some snide remarks were passed back and forth on both parties,
including remarks about the “ever unavailable, timid Chief of Police,
Chris Sneed and the Investigator’s remarks that they were just “too
busy collecting skateboards”, which was a personal dig toward Constable
Denton's stepson, because the Denton's son’s skateboard had been
recently seized with him being issued a ticket. Well the discussion
calmed down and the Investigator told Constable Denton that if they
could be there in 20 minutes, he would have a patrolman take their
report and the patrolman would get the report to the Investigator to
investigate it. So here you have Darrell Bell and J.C. Byrd sitting in the
lobby of DPD doing nothing but yet call another patrol officer in to do
what? Take the Denton's report and hand it to the Investigator sitting
there doing nothing. Couldn't the "old friend' of Roy's simply taken the
report himself and help the Dentons out instead of sitting there
boasting about the chain of command?
Upon the Constable hanging up the phone the Dentons decided
immediately to go down to the Dayton City Police Department as the
Investigator had suggested and were going to give their complaint.
When they arrived at the police department, the Investigator, and a
patrolman who (appeared to be a “wannabe” Clint Eastwood, judging by
his Cellphone Ringtone chiming out the theme from “The Good, The Bad,
and The Ugly”. I have to agree on the ugly part. Sorry folks, I had to
say that, not Mrs. Denton, but seriously, can you imagine a policeman with
the ringtone of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I swear if I had
been standing there when the phone rang that out, I would have busted
out laughing, and needless to say, probably jailed for it!) Back to Mrs.
Denton's account of the event. Among the Investigator, a patrolman, and
a fireman who was sitting at the receptionist’s desk. The Investigator
immediately stated that he did not think we were going to make it down
there and said that a patrolman would be here to take the report in a
few minutes. The Clint Eastwood wannabe then got on his radio and
requested an officer come to the station. Constable Denton then stated
humorously that he forgot that the Clint Eastwood “wannabe” patrolman
could not write a report without an okay, even though he was a shift
sergeant. The Investigator stated that they had to go through a “chain
of command here”. Constable Denton then stated that he knew all about
the “chain of command”. Then the Constable looked at Mrs. Denton and
stated that she was about to learn first hand how things are handled
“here in the south”. Mrs. Denton then told her husband that she had
already seen enough to know how things worked here and “it sucks”.
The Investigator immediately stood up and stated, “This is not how it is
gonna happen here!” Mrs. Denton's replay to his remark was in the
affect of, “Oh you don’t want to hear comments like the skateboard
comment you made to the Constable on the phone a few minutes ago.” He
then pushed open the front door of the police department, pointed
directly at Mrs. Denton, maintained eye contact with her, and then in a
hostile voice told Mrs. Denton to, “Get out, Get out now!” Mrs. Denton
stood there in shock and said, “no”. He took a couple of steps towards
her and said, “Get Out!, Get Out Now!” Mrs. Denton, confused and
absolutely in shock at how suddenly she was being treated this way.
With somewhat of a confused and hurt state of mind, again said no and
also asked why. He then got within one foot of her and told her that if
she did not get out now, he was gonna have “that officer right there”
cuff her and take her to jail. At this point, the Clint Eastwood wannabe
officer, who was seated on her left, was now standing at Mrs. Denton's
left side within two inches of her. She then was face to face with the
Investigator, who was within inches of her face and she looked him
dead in the eye and asked him, “On what grounds?” He then put his
hand on her elbow and told her to get out. In the background she could
hear her husband quietly and calmly saying, “Honey, let’s go, let’s go on
now.” As they walked out of the police department, Constable Denton
looked at his one time friend, or thought to be friend Darrell Bell in the
eye who was also the Investigator and supposed to help a victim of a
crime, and bluntly said, “Darrell, you just fucked up.”
They were going to arrest her for her simply speaking her mind and
throwing back the same simple sarcastic comment that the Investigator
threw at Constable Denton over the phone a short time prior to their
arrival to the Dayton Police Department. Mrs. Denton left in tears and
extremely upset and shook up. Actually the biggest emotion she felt at
that time was flat out “fear”. Constable Denton then opened her car
door and helped her in the car as she was so upset. Constable Denton
then told his wife that the Investigator stated that they have a chain of
command, “then by God we are going straight to the top with this one.”
“No one handles or treats my wife that way”, he said. They then drove
to Mayor Bob Vincent's home and his wife was there. She was very
patient and politely listened to everything the Constable had to say and
agreed with many things he said. Mrs. Denton remained in the car as
she was embarrassed and still crying as to what had happened. The
Constable then exchanged phone numbers with the Mayor’s wife and she
informed them to feel free to call after they got home that evening
after a dinner engagement. She told them approximately what time to
call and she also took their phone number. Upon their leaving she stated
that she was sorry and that Mrs. Denton had been treated that way and
that “it just wasn’t right”. The mayor’s wife was actually very kind and
Mrs. Denton actually started to feel better listening to someone who
agreed with her husband that things are not right in Dayton and its
police department.
After going home and settling down a few hours, Constable Denton and
his wife talked about it and they decided that they indeed should talk to
Mayor Vincent, as Mrs. Denton was treated unprofessionally, improperly,
and unfairly. Reluctantly, Mrs. Denton called Mayor Vincent's home and
left a voicemail on his machine. Within 10 minutes, Mrs. Denton received
a phone call back from the Mayor and had a discussion with him and felt
somewhat better. The Mayor reassured her that he was going to
investigate the incident and informed her that there had been a “few
incidences lately” involving the Investigator that were inappropriate and
that he was going to follow through with her complaint. She told the
mayor she appreciated him calling her back and giving her the
consideration of letting her speak, something in which the Investigator
was going to throw her in jail for. This made Mrs. Denton feel a little
better but she continued to think about how close she was to being
thrown in jail for doing nothing more than making a Dayton Investigator
mad. She still feels a factor of fear and degraded by him. Her feelings
are hurt, very hurt. She had had a couple of contacts with the
Investigator before and he and she had always been cordial to each
other. Mrs. Denton was the only woman in that room and she was going
to be arrested for simply talking. Mrs. Denton believes she truly
enraged the Investigator by speaking her mind and that she was going
to be arrested for doing so. She was not being rude as he was. She did
not deserve this treatment. The way the Investigator, Darrell Bell
treated her made her feel degraded and threatened, powerless without
any civil rights. Mrs. Denton was within seconds of being hauled off to
jail for not wanting to be removed from the police station that she was
told to come to in the first place. When the Investigator did not like
what he was hearing and did not want to deal with a citizen’s complaint,
he wanted her to shut up and leave. If she did not do this, she was
going to be thrown in jail for it. She said to the Dayton City Council,
“Please tell me what law I broke, please tell me how a man like this in an
authoritative position can treat me like this. It is not right. He was not
acting in an order becoming of a police officer. I felt in harms way and
being treated no better than a criminal, which I assure you I am not.”
Mrs. Denton became somewhat tearful and upset while telling the above
to the council, but she fought her way through her emotions to speak
before the council. She states she is still very appreciative of the
occasional encouraging smiles she received from the City Recorder,
Tommy Solomon, that encouraged her to continue with her story, as it
was obvious to anyone watching Mrs. Denton that this was something she
needed some closure on and was having some difficulty dealing with how
the event left her feeling about living in Dayton.
Well readers, this has become somewhat of a lengthy edition of the
Dentons' account with Dayton. Tune in again to hear the reactions of the
Mayor and the Chief of Police of Dayton and the results of Mrs.
Denton's uncomfortable task of presenting their problems to the Council.
you is that I am sorry it has been a few days since I last left you
hanging with the latest of Constable Denton, emeritus and Mrs. Denton's
dilemma in Dayton. Time has a way of getting away from me amongst
working, family, some socializing here and there. So I must tell you how
much I appreciate you checking back to see “what”s up”. Let’s see,
where did we leave off? Oh yes, I remember!
We left off when Mrs. Denton had called Mayor Vincent who had given
her words of encouragement. During their telephone conversation with
the mayor, Mrs. Denton then began to feel some relief that she was not
alone in knowing she had been mistreated at the Dayton City Police
Department. She told Mayor Vincent that when they first realized they
had been a victim of crime that she had tried to call Chief Sneed at the
DPD and that he was not there on several occasions. She also told mayor
Vincent that Chief Sneed's receptionist paged the Chief for her and he
still did not return phone calls. When she expressed this fact to the
Mayor, he himself stated that he himself had had trouble getting in
touch with the Chief Sneed at times when calling his office or paging
him. No wonder the Chief became so angry with her that day when he
was trying to instigate a physical confrontation with Constable Denton
when she told him that it would not have reached this point if he had
only returned her calls or answered her pages. Constable Denton had
then told the Chief Sneed that even the Mayor had said that he could
not reach him. Mrs. Denton told Chief Sneed at that point that the
Mayor told her that himself over the phone. Chief Sneed then pointed
at Mrs. Denton and yelled at her (much in the same fashion as
Investigator, Darrell Bell had and said, “You’re a liar!” (Wow, such
professional behavior). This man had never met Mrs. Denton before
this and he was yelling at her calling her a liar.
I hope I haven’t confused you. I had to add this important point since I
had neglected to include that in the story prior to this. You will have to
forgive me. It is just that the Dentons have had to clear a lot of hurdles
that look to have been intentionally placed before them by the very ones
with the power to help them. Okay, so to continue on, and on, and on, I
mean really folks it is sad with what the Dentons had to endure to finally
get restitution. You have to admit though it sure is an interesting story,
or at least I think it is, otherwise I would not want to tell it to you.
A couple of weeks had gone by since the threat of arrest by Investigator
, Darrell Bell, followed the next day by a confrontation by the Chief, the
Constable and Mrs. Denton did just what the retired Constable had told
the Chief they would do. They addressed this matter at the Dayton City
Council Meeting.
This is basically what was said to the Council and presented for public
record, but then folks, you know by now with my writing about the
Dentons that we have to put a little bit of humor in here and there,
because in a way that is what people tend to have to do to get through a
very rough time.
The Constable placed a call to the Dayton City Police Investigator at the
Dayton Police Department to request that he do an investigative report
as the Dentons were intending to press criminal charges on a fraudulent
and criminal contract with a person that portrayed himself as a licensed
contractor. After a lengthy discussion on the phone with the
Investigator, Constable Denton began to see he was getting nowhere,
and in fact, that his phone call to the Investigator was a waste of his
time, not the Investigator’s because he was on the payroll. Obviously
the Constable was wasting his time because he could see that the
Investigator was not going to write a report. They both began to get
upset with one another and the discussion turned somewhat personal and
some snide remarks were passed back and forth on both parties,
including remarks about the “ever unavailable, timid Chief of Police,
Chris Sneed and the Investigator’s remarks that they were just “too
busy collecting skateboards”, which was a personal dig toward Constable
Denton's stepson, because the Denton's son’s skateboard had been
recently seized with him being issued a ticket. Well the discussion
calmed down and the Investigator told Constable Denton that if they
could be there in 20 minutes, he would have a patrolman take their
report and the patrolman would get the report to the Investigator to
investigate it. So here you have Darrell Bell and J.C. Byrd sitting in the
lobby of DPD doing nothing but yet call another patrol officer in to do
what? Take the Denton's report and hand it to the Investigator sitting
there doing nothing. Couldn't the "old friend' of Roy's simply taken the
report himself and help the Dentons out instead of sitting there
boasting about the chain of command?
Upon the Constable hanging up the phone the Dentons decided
immediately to go down to the Dayton City Police Department as the
Investigator had suggested and were going to give their complaint.
When they arrived at the police department, the Investigator, and a
patrolman who (appeared to be a “wannabe” Clint Eastwood, judging by
his Cellphone Ringtone chiming out the theme from “The Good, The Bad,
and The Ugly”. I have to agree on the ugly part. Sorry folks, I had to
say that, not Mrs. Denton, but seriously, can you imagine a policeman with
the ringtone of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I swear if I had
been standing there when the phone rang that out, I would have busted
out laughing, and needless to say, probably jailed for it!) Back to Mrs.
Denton's account of the event. Among the Investigator, a patrolman, and
a fireman who was sitting at the receptionist’s desk. The Investigator
immediately stated that he did not think we were going to make it down
there and said that a patrolman would be here to take the report in a
few minutes. The Clint Eastwood wannabe then got on his radio and
requested an officer come to the station. Constable Denton then stated
humorously that he forgot that the Clint Eastwood “wannabe” patrolman
could not write a report without an okay, even though he was a shift
sergeant. The Investigator stated that they had to go through a “chain
of command here”. Constable Denton then stated that he knew all about
the “chain of command”. Then the Constable looked at Mrs. Denton and
stated that she was about to learn first hand how things are handled
“here in the south”. Mrs. Denton then told her husband that she had
already seen enough to know how things worked here and “it sucks”.
The Investigator immediately stood up and stated, “This is not how it is
gonna happen here!” Mrs. Denton's replay to his remark was in the
affect of, “Oh you don’t want to hear comments like the skateboard
comment you made to the Constable on the phone a few minutes ago.” He
then pushed open the front door of the police department, pointed
directly at Mrs. Denton, maintained eye contact with her, and then in a
hostile voice told Mrs. Denton to, “Get out, Get out now!” Mrs. Denton
stood there in shock and said, “no”. He took a couple of steps towards
her and said, “Get Out!, Get Out Now!” Mrs. Denton, confused and
absolutely in shock at how suddenly she was being treated this way.
With somewhat of a confused and hurt state of mind, again said no and
also asked why. He then got within one foot of her and told her that if
she did not get out now, he was gonna have “that officer right there”
cuff her and take her to jail. At this point, the Clint Eastwood wannabe
officer, who was seated on her left, was now standing at Mrs. Denton's
left side within two inches of her. She then was face to face with the
Investigator, who was within inches of her face and she looked him
dead in the eye and asked him, “On what grounds?” He then put his
hand on her elbow and told her to get out. In the background she could
hear her husband quietly and calmly saying, “Honey, let’s go, let’s go on
now.” As they walked out of the police department, Constable Denton
looked at his one time friend, or thought to be friend Darrell Bell in the
eye who was also the Investigator and supposed to help a victim of a
crime, and bluntly said, “Darrell, you just fucked up.”
They were going to arrest her for her simply speaking her mind and
throwing back the same simple sarcastic comment that the Investigator
threw at Constable Denton over the phone a short time prior to their
arrival to the Dayton Police Department. Mrs. Denton left in tears and
extremely upset and shook up. Actually the biggest emotion she felt at
that time was flat out “fear”. Constable Denton then opened her car
door and helped her in the car as she was so upset. Constable Denton
then told his wife that the Investigator stated that they have a chain of
command, “then by God we are going straight to the top with this one.”
“No one handles or treats my wife that way”, he said. They then drove
to Mayor Bob Vincent's home and his wife was there. She was very
patient and politely listened to everything the Constable had to say and
agreed with many things he said. Mrs. Denton remained in the car as
she was embarrassed and still crying as to what had happened. The
Constable then exchanged phone numbers with the Mayor’s wife and she
informed them to feel free to call after they got home that evening
after a dinner engagement. She told them approximately what time to
call and she also took their phone number. Upon their leaving she stated
that she was sorry and that Mrs. Denton had been treated that way and
that “it just wasn’t right”. The mayor’s wife was actually very kind and
Mrs. Denton actually started to feel better listening to someone who
agreed with her husband that things are not right in Dayton and its
police department.
After going home and settling down a few hours, Constable Denton and
his wife talked about it and they decided that they indeed should talk to
Mayor Vincent, as Mrs. Denton was treated unprofessionally, improperly,
and unfairly. Reluctantly, Mrs. Denton called Mayor Vincent's home and
left a voicemail on his machine. Within 10 minutes, Mrs. Denton received
a phone call back from the Mayor and had a discussion with him and felt
somewhat better. The Mayor reassured her that he was going to
investigate the incident and informed her that there had been a “few
incidences lately” involving the Investigator that were inappropriate and
that he was going to follow through with her complaint. She told the
mayor she appreciated him calling her back and giving her the
consideration of letting her speak, something in which the Investigator
was going to throw her in jail for. This made Mrs. Denton feel a little
better but she continued to think about how close she was to being
thrown in jail for doing nothing more than making a Dayton Investigator
mad. She still feels a factor of fear and degraded by him. Her feelings
are hurt, very hurt. She had had a couple of contacts with the
Investigator before and he and she had always been cordial to each
other. Mrs. Denton was the only woman in that room and she was going
to be arrested for simply talking. Mrs. Denton believes she truly
enraged the Investigator by speaking her mind and that she was going
to be arrested for doing so. She was not being rude as he was. She did
not deserve this treatment. The way the Investigator, Darrell Bell
treated her made her feel degraded and threatened, powerless without
any civil rights. Mrs. Denton was within seconds of being hauled off to
jail for not wanting to be removed from the police station that she was
told to come to in the first place. When the Investigator did not like
what he was hearing and did not want to deal with a citizen’s complaint,
he wanted her to shut up and leave. If she did not do this, she was
going to be thrown in jail for it. She said to the Dayton City Council,
“Please tell me what law I broke, please tell me how a man like this in an
authoritative position can treat me like this. It is not right. He was not
acting in an order becoming of a police officer. I felt in harms way and
being treated no better than a criminal, which I assure you I am not.”
Mrs. Denton became somewhat tearful and upset while telling the above
to the council, but she fought her way through her emotions to speak
before the council. She states she is still very appreciative of the
occasional encouraging smiles she received from the City Recorder,
Tommy Solomon, that encouraged her to continue with her story, as it
was obvious to anyone watching Mrs. Denton that this was something she
needed some closure on and was having some difficulty dealing with how
the event left her feeling about living in Dayton.
Well readers, this has become somewhat of a lengthy edition of the
Dentons' account with Dayton. Tune in again to hear the reactions of the
Mayor and the Chief of Police of Dayton and the results of Mrs.
Denton's uncomfortable task of presenting their problems to the Council.
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