A couple of weeks ago, Edward and Angela Bourne, of Buckingham County, were driving south on Rt. 29 when their car was surrounded by six speeding vehicles. The Bournes were forced off the road, and a man from one car attacked Angela Bourne. Her husband defended her, for which he was bludgeoned. His wife then tried to help him, and she was held and restrained by another man. Finally, all the men left, and the Bournes were taken to the hospital.
Any number of laws were broken here, but Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos says he’s not going to press charges. Why? The attacker is from Maryland, and extradition requires a felony — Camblos says that the only one crime was committed (assault and battery), and it was just a misdemeanor, and, hey, what are the odds that a guy from Maryland might ever cross the border again?
The Bournes are furious, and don’t understand how it is that this is allowed to happen. Typing in “Camblos” in the site search reminded me of why I’m not surprised — this is par for the course for Camblos. Remember in the 1998, when a grandmother and her two grandchildren were killed in an auto accident on 29 when a woman drove clear across the vast, wooded median strip and collided with their car head-on? There were neither charges nor an investigation, after Camblos refused to permit it. Remember the murder of Osama Hassan at the Shell Station on Ivy Road in 1998? Charges had to be dropped against Dylan Tyree in that case after Camblos mishandled the submission of evidence to the courts. Remember the three police officers who shot and killed a pitchfork-wielding mentally ill man in 2001? Camblos exonerated them. Remember the involuntary manslaughter trial of a UVa professor in 2003? Camblos didn’t subpoena a key witness, and charges had to be dropped. Remember the 2003-4 story of Deputy Stephen Shifflett, who claimed to have been shot by a black man, going so far as to arrest two guys, but turned out to have shot himself? Camblos refused to charge him with anything, got called on it by the Progress, and then claimed that he’d been investigating it all along; Judge Peatross had to intervene.
Call me crazy, but I’m seeing a pattern here. While the Bournes might be surprised by Camblos’ bizarre refusal to place charges, it strikes me as about right for the guy.
Reed Williams has the story in today’s Progress.
another reason why i’m so happy i no longer live in albemarle county. how does this guy still have a job?
fyi…the article said the incident happened on rt. 29, not rt. 20 (as stated at the top of this post).
D’oh — 20 doesn’t even run through Nelson. Thanks for the correction.
true. although covesville, where the incident occured, isn’t in nelson co. it’s in albemarle.
that’s 2. :^)
Dang, I did type that all wrong, didn’t I? I was thinking more of 29 snaking by Covesville after which it has to plunge into Nelson, lacking any other direction. But it came out all wrong.
No more posting for me today. This situation is not going to improve for me. :)
All this is very amusing. When one goofs all one is required to do is “accept responsibilty” or offer an apology.
It is not necessary to accept responsibility – the acceptance is part of the job. The apology helps no one and is merely a graceful way to say let`s “move on” – another expression designed to cover or forget mistakes.
The City School Board recently “moved on”.
The word missing in our contemporary lexicon is “consequences” . There are none.
I read over your post, cornelious, and thought “my Lord, is my misplacement of 29/20 and Covesville such an egregious offense”?
Oh, dang, it’s not tomorrow yet. That’s what I get for trying to think again today.
It’s interesting how consequences are not just lacking from the Bush administration (which, as a Democrat, is the first thing that springs to mind when I think of serious error that warrants both apology and consequences), but from our own liberal Charlottesville. Perhaps this is a trend that knows no partisan boundaries — mistakes are in the past, let’s ignore them, ideally pretend that they didn’t happen, and try not to learn anything.
I’d like to think we’re above that in our World Class City™, but I’d be completely wrong, of course.
Well, Waldo, if all we had to contend with is a misplacement of a road or two we would be in grand shape – some errors fall in the category of gross mismanagement but I will exclude , from my thinking, your remapping of the area.
Keep smiling.
Don’t forget Camblos gross negligence in keeping the wrong man behind bars for the January homicide of a teenager near Trophy Chase. I can’t believe it took the comonwealth 4 months to exclude this man as a suspect. What kinds of evidence are they dealing with here? It is always easy to criticize, but Mr. Jim Camblos has a record that cannot be ignored, not should it be when voting time comes around.
Unfortuantely, Camblos was unchallenged last time around, in 2003, and he’s not up for reelection until 2007.