A couple of weeks ago, the Virginia Law Weekly published a letter from a UVA law student alleging that he was a victim of police misconduct and racial profiling. Johnathan Perkins—who is black—provided a detailed story about how he was stopped by two white university police officers, questioned and searched, and when he asked for their badge numbers, they refused to tell him. Now he admits that he made it all up, Sharon Fitzgerald writes in the Daily Progress. The 25-year-old says that he “wrote the article to bring attention to the topic of police misconduct,” but that “the events in the article did not occur.” UVA police had opened an investigation in the matter, but as they looked into dispatch records and tapes of radio calls, they found that his story didn’t add up. Perkins will not be charged with filing a false police report, says Chief Michael Gibson, because the department doesn’t want to inhibit people from coming forward with legitimate claims of misconduct.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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When I first read his letter, the day it was published, it struck me as fishy. I figured I’d give it a day or two—if there was anything to it, it seemed like the officers would be suspended and UVA would issue a press release. And then…nothing. A few days later, somebody e-mailed me to ask why I hadn’t written about it here. I felt a bit guilty for not writing about it—what if this was a real case of misconduct, and I wasn’t helping to call attention to it?—but I was still too doubtful to write anything.
Although it turned out I was right, it could have easily gone the other way. People like Perkins turn people like me into cynics, or at least they will if I don’t watch myself. Now some number of people—dozens, hundreds, I don’t know—will volunteer, when the topic of profiling comes up, that it doesn’t really happen, that the people saying it happens are liars. And they’ll think they know that because of Johnathan Perkins. Jerk.
Did he actually file a police report? I think he’s not being charged with filing a false police report, at least in part, because he didn’t file a report. He wrote an article, and then the university investigated the veracity of his article.
I do think he should be investigated by the Honor Committee.
Wow. If the Honor Committee is expelling kids who lie about why a paper is turned in late (and they are), they are duty-bound to go after someone who does something like this. Community of trust, after all. And he’s a law student? That seems to me a massive ethics problem for a future lawyer….
Certainly, there should be consequences to what he did, if he portrayed the police misconduct to be true.
Sounds as if VA LAw did very little due diligence. Really, would they publish anything sent, or simply inflammatory letters that meet their own expectations?
What if I sent in a letter saying I was racially profiled for a mugging when, as a single middle aged male I went strolling through a predominantly black neighborhood? Or would I be judged racist?
I agree that he is a jerk. A racist jerk who has prolly set the cause back, rather than forward.
When I saw him on TV, I couldn’t figure out why the police would have identified him as black and approach him in the first place. I could have walked by him all day long and not have figured it out. I think it would be interesting to investigate his origins – after all he has proven that he is a liar. We are inundated with lying politicians and lying lawyers. If I was one of his teachers I would devote one whole class period to holding him up to ridicule in front of his classmates. He would never lie again.
Obviously he is fighting for a cause he knows nothing about because he would have written about that instead of fabricating an incident.
I think he has a bright future as an attorney as he has apparently mastered the main attribute for success in that field.
He may not have been charged with filing a false report, but anyone want to give odds on how long it’ll be before he finds himself with a ticket for something like capital jaywalking? :)
Keep an eye on this guy. This isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of him. He’s city councilor or city manager material for sure. That is if RWSA doesn’t scoop him up first.
This is why we can’t have nice things.