Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 November 2009 — Page 29

The Muncie Times • November 6, 2009 • Page 29

News Briefs *****

Compiled by Andre Scott National March on Small Town: Eight is on for Walmart LineCutter Facing 15 Years by Pharoh Martin WASHINGTON- Because of a trip to Walmart three years ago, Heather Ellis is now fighting for her life. The 24-year-old former college student is facing felony charges that could get her up to 15 years in prison after being arrested for an incident that stemmed from her cutting a line at a Walmart in Kennet, Missouri. The case is garnering national attention because of the racial underpinnings and perceived multiple injustices involved. It goes to trial Nov. 18. On November 16, the Your Black World Coalition, NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union, National Action Network, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference plan to converge on the small town of Kennett to protest and heighten the publicity. Here's what happened: On Jan. 6, 2007, Ellis and her cousin were sent on a midnight run to Walmart by her parents to pick up some items. With her cousin already standing in line near the register, Ellis tried to join him at the front of the line. That's when the clerk accused Ellis of cutting in front of other customers. Customers behind

objected and verbally accosted the then 21-year-old, according to Ellis' father Rev. Nathanial Ellis in an interview with the NNPA News Service. One White customer physically pushed the former college student. Ellis tried to explain that she was joining her cousin who was already in line and told the lady not to push her again. She was subsequently pushed again. The cashier would later refuse to ring Ellis up even after everybody else in line went through. “The cashier stalled my daughter long enough for the night manager to come up,” Rev. Ellis explained. “My daughter paid with cash but she asked my daughter for an I.D. [Heather] said that she didn't need an ID because she paid with cash.” Upon legal advise, his daughter has declined press interviews. As Ellis and the cashier were going back and forth about the ID issue a Walmart night manager approached. She yelled frantically for Ellis to leave the store immediately before she called the police and have her removed for trespassing, Rev. Ellis recounted the story as told by his daughter. Ellis did not leave right away because she was waiting for the change from her purchase. In the midst of the argument and the manager yelling, Rev. Ellis holds that the night manager then charged at Ellis over a remark his

daughter made and a scuffle ensued. The police was called, which was according to store policy, according to Walmart. "When there is a disturbance of this nature at one of our stores, our associates are encouraged to contact law enforcement and let the authorities determine how to proceed," said Walmart spokesperson Lorenzo Lopez. The four police officers who responded escorted Ellis out of the store. Rev. Ellis alleges that the officers hurled racial insults at his daughter as she was exiting the premises and then once outside, arrested her for trespassing. Officer A. W. Fisher allegedly grabbed Ellis violently once she spoke up about her treatment from the police. After getting a call from Ellis' 15-year-old cousin that accompanied her, Ellis' aunt showed up to the scene to a brutal scene of multiple police officers wrangling her young niece. “She said to my wife, 'Mama, they dragged me by my hair and slammed me into the metal door,'” Rev. Ellis recounts. Rev. Ellis says that his daughter's wrists were bloody from being cuffed too tight and that she had injuries that required medical attention from being choked, dragged and wrestled. Ellis was initially charged in 2007 with four misdemeanors, including assaulting on a police offi-

cer, resisting arrest, trespassing and destroying police property. The charges were subsequently dropped - or so the family thought. “When we went they said the charges were no longer in the system. They threw it out. The secretary showed my wife that they threw out the charges and that they were no longer in the system,” Rev. Ellis said. However, Ellis had refused to sign the plea bargain that had been offered. Thinking that she was in the clear Ellis went back to school in New Orleans, where she was a student at Xavier University. A month later the Ellis family found out by a records check by a friend that a felony arrest warrant for Ellis had turned up. The family says the prosecutor upgraded the misdemeanors to three Class C felonies because Ellis refused to accept a guilty plea deal. She did not want to cop a plea to something that she felt she was not guilty of. The Ellis family feels that the prosecutor wants to make an example out of their daughter. The pending felony charges have cost Ellis job offers and a shot at going to medical school. The community has expressed its outrage with rallies and protests, which led to threats from the Ku Klux Klan. A police officer delivered a card to the family from the Klan and

Heather's father believes that the officer's delivery of the card was part of a broader plot to intimidate the family. “After the first march we had, a policeman in uniform in his car, who holds the rank of major, drove up to my sister-in-law's house and called her outside. He told her that he had something to give her. He gave it to her. She said, “'We're not intimidated. We will still march on.'” He just drove away laughing.” He said that the officer also gave his other sister-in-law a card as well. He said the brown cards with red writing read, “You've just been paid a social visit by the Ku Klux Klan. The next visit will not be social.” There haven't been any further threats since that day, he says. The prosecutor on the case doubts Rev. Ellis' story. “There were no threats by the Ku Klux Klan to the family,” contends Stephen Sokoloff, Dunklin County prosecuting attorney in charge of prosecuting Heather's case. “Somebody threw some cards on the street where they were going to have a march. The police picked them up. r ; police major handed t 1 card to one of the family members who he has known for 35 to 40 years and just told her that they found these cards on the street. It was just a matter continued on page 31