
In December 2002, Gary Rummer had no prophetic voice whispering into his ear that the swearing in of Sid Causey as Sheriff would cause his death the following month. Certainly it wasn’t Causey that broke Rummer’s skull and neck in that cramped cell that night but it was Sid Causey, the Sheriff, that showed complete indifference to earlier complaints of overcrowding, abuses by jailers, and even prior inmate deaths. It is a fact that Causey is the one that authorized the transportation of critically wounded Rummer to Central Prison Hospital, a 135 mile drive rather than the 7 mile ambulance ride to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center. It was also Causey that failed to report the death, as required by law, because as he would have liked us all to have believed, he claimed Rummer died as a result of complications with Rummer’s alcoholism. The DT’s caused a convulsion that unbalanced Rummer thus he struck his head, or so he claimed. That was the exact story given to the grieving family by the Sheriff prior to the release of the Official Autopsy Report issued by the Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill. There is a wicked smirk at the county's liability by the arrogant leadership of the Sheriff's Office.
As today’s visitors witnessed the man that took 3 out of every 4 votes cast in the November election accept the Oath as Sheriff, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer, a young 18 year old kid lay in a cold storage inside a quiet funeral home in Durham. The young man, full of life at one time, lived in a house on Long Leaf Acres Drive with a couple of rowdy roommates. The house was a typical college party house, loud music, drunk girls laughing wildly at 2 in the morning and neighbors with weary eyes and short tempers wishing for quiet. You can imagine how angry a neighbor could be, knowing complaints would do little to guarantee a good nights rest the next weekend. So this young man, Peyton Strickland, was not that unusual for a college kid with an upper middle class background. Sounds like normal college life to me. Except that he was somehow linked to an overly reported incident that happened November 17 on the campus of UNCW.
UNCW has had a recent history of violent assaults, drinking and drug activity. Two students murdered and several overdoses have caused the University to be in the national spotlight on more than a few occasions. This most recent incident was yet another embarrassment to those wanting endowments and enrollments to flourish. Pressure was certainly on to bring this issue to some resolve as quickly as possible.
On November 17th the entire Country was in the midst of a consumerism battle for the latest $600 Playstation 3. The games announced short supply caused long lines at every major national retail outlet prior to the sale at Midnight November 17th. As luck would have it Justin Raines, a student at UNCW from Apex, was able to make a purchase of two Playstations. Raines drove from the Sigmon Road Wal-Mart to his campus dorm parking area a couple of miles away. Once parked, a car pulled up matching the description of a similar car spotted on video taken at Wal Mart and as many as 4 young white kids jumped out and reportedly beat Mr. Raines taking his Playstations then driving away. The car pulling up to Wal Mart was captured on tape, the alleged mugging was not.
A week or so later the campus police posted a request for information on a UNCW party website. This was clever, aggressive law enforcement if I do say so myself but it is uncertain if any new leads developed from it.
Somehow the UNCW campus police became aware of the identities of 2 suspects. One was UNCW student Ryan David Mills, 20, of 4500 Crawdad Court, Wilmington, and the second suspect was, Peyton Brooks Strickland, 18, of 417 Brighton Road, Durham. A search warrant was also issued for 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive in Wilmington and served on the night of December 1. Mills was arrested without incident and Strickland was shot and killed by members of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s ERT unit, a SWAT team that accompanied the UNCW campus police to the house.
Neither of these two young men have records that would lead someone to believe either would be capable of committing violent acts much less robbing someone of a game. Strickland was however awaiting trial on a charge of popping Nathan Harrington, a 22 year old UNCW student from Lee County, in the mouth. So what would cause the campus police to request the assistance of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s heavily armed ERT unit? Was it a photo posted on suspect Mills website showing 3 guys holding guns under a caption stating that “This is how we roll” ? Was it misinformation? Was it a neighbor that had exaggerated the activity at the 533 Long Leaf Acres residence?
According to the search warrant Mills was known to carry a gun and Strickland was awaiting trial for an assault charge. Would that be enough to justify the callout of an ERT unit?
Several calls and emails to the UNCW campus police were unreturned. Questions about why they chose to call on the Sheriff and not the City are unanswered. When Jessica Faulkner was murdered, by fellow student Curtis Dixon, the campus police again called on the Sheriff for help and not the City. I did ask WPD Chief Evangelous if he was contacted for help and he said that, to the best of his knowledge, they were never contacted for any assistance.
So really why the Sheriff’s Office? Is it because they have a stellar track record when it comes to armed confrontations? Certainly the only reason to call out a SWAT team is because it might be highly probable that the officers serving the warrant would be facing armed offenders. Yet in 2005 the Sheriff’s ERT unit shot and killed a distraught man in his own yard. Officers saw a gun, family members saw a cordless phone. Both said they saw a red light, the weapon found inside the house had no red light, no laser.
The Sheriff proudly confirmed that the Unit is made up of several military veterans who had recently served in live combat situations where killing was part of a day’s work.
Everyone can agree upon the fact that a combined force of armed men came to the door at 533 Long Leaf Acres with a search warrant and seeking entrance into the home of Peyton Strickland. I don’t know if neighbors were warned or evacuated, I don’t know if law enforcement could see into the house or specifically if anyone looked into the house thru the front door’s small glass window prior to knocking. Everyone agrees there was a knock, everyone also agrees there was immediate burst of gunfire just after the knock. Did the dog charge the deputies, was he sent on command? I don’t know, but I own a rather large dog that I have trained to bark and approach the door every time there is someone is outside knocking, or to bark and approach any loud noise for that matter.
We know Peyton Strickland was shot and killed in his home. We have been lead to believe by a shaken witness that Peyton may have had a game control box in his hand when he got up to answer the door. Speaking of the door, why was it taken into evidence? Were there bullet holes in it? Would that show shots were fired from outside the door? Do we know if Peyton Strickland was shot thru the door?
The autopsy shows that Strickland was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, a shot that most likely killed him instantly. But he was also taken to the hospital. How long before he was transported and who transported him? Was an ambulance already on standby? No. No EMS standing by, yet every high school football game you see one parked near the end zone. No ambulance, you would think an armed forced entrance to a potentially dangerous situation would call for one wouldn't you?
The search warrant released at the end of the day shows a few significant details that keep those following closely reason to suspect improper command over the situation. Nothing in the warrant suggest any reason to go in fully loaded. There was mention that Ryan Mills posed in a photo that showed him with a shotgun (both Mills and Strickland are avid hunters) and that Peyton had been arrested on a Felony assault charge for smacking Nathan Harrington in the jaw. Nothing in that warrant would indicate an extraordinary need for protecting those officers who were to serve the warrant. Nothing.
Apparently according to the search warrant the two beat and robbed Justin Raines taking his two Playstations from him by force even though they have not found or identified the owner of the vehicle seen in the WalMart. Someone supposedly sold one of the two Playstations on ebay. Law enforcement hoped to find the other at Strickland’s house. They didn’t, nor did they find in the house any evidence that would tie Strickland to the robbery.
Of the items seized, the Sheriff’s Office took possession of bullet fragments, shell casings, a few bongs and the front door. Again why the front door? Think about it, why?
This entire event has caused tremendous damage to those who proudly wear the badge of authority. What happened because of poor planning and perhaps poor training directly affects all others serving our community and others who count on the respect and cooperation of the public. It is important to know that the only two agencies on scene at 533 Long Leaf Acres Drive were the UNCW campus police and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. It is also important to know that those members of the ERT unit were ordered to be there and to enter that house. It is natural for any human being, especially those trained in law enforcement, to use deadly force when threatened with deadly force. Who knows why the deputy fired his weapon at Mr. Strickland, but I’d bet my life savings that it wasn’t because he wanted to, he just wanted to live and to protect his fellow deputies. We respect that. We do not respect the decision to send them in there the way they did. We talked a lot about this when we did a show on the Lewis shooting in Castle Hayne back in 2005. People are human. But someone needs to be held accountable, admit the mistake and resign.
District Attorney Ben David made a brief statement to the press saying, "I recognize that any time we're dealing with the loss of a life, we're talking about someone's baby," David said. "No one is above the law, and no one is beneath its protection. I commit to Peyton Strickland's family and to the men and women of law enforcement who I advise that I will go wherever the truth leads." Tomorrow Ben David will meet in Durham with Don Strickland, father of Peyton.
We spoke with Mr. Strickland Saturday morning outside his son’s house and his words spoke of his heart and to ours when he said, “They killed my son.”
Tragically he may just be right.
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