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THURSDAY, August 27, 2020
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
Volume 46, Number 50
Enough is enough!
Judge alarmed at surge in violent juvenile crime
BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY
THE CHRONICLE
People continue to
speak out about the rise
in violence throughout the
city of Winston-Salem. No
one seems to know why
there is this sudden rise, or
a concrete way to fix it, but
what is for certain is the
community wants a plan in
place to combat the threat,
especially one that impacts
the youth.
Forsyth County Judge
Denise Hartsfield is one of
those community residents
who has not been pleased
by what she has seen on
television, but even more
disappointed by what she
has seen in her courtroom.
According to Hartsfield, a
juvenile court judge, the
number of violent juvenile
cases has skyrocketed this
year as compared to previ
ous years and she is eager
for a change in the path the
city is heading toward.
“I wanted to sit down
and just express my feel
ings as it related particu
larly to youth violence, be
cause the upsurge in cases
we have seen is totally
amazing,” said Hartsfield.
“If I just looked at today,
my juvenile docket today
had 13 cases on it and 11
of them were violent of
fenses.”
Hartsfield says there
has been a noticeable
rise in violent offenses in
the juvenile court since
March. She says there
have been almost as many
youth firearm-related com
plaints so far this year as
there were the previous
two years combined.
“The increase is just
amazing,” she said. “We
have 48 cases now, com
pared to 25 for the previ
ous year, and this is just
August. So, if we keep av
eraging those numbers, we
will easily be around 80 or
90 by the end of the year
and that’s totally ridicu
lous.
“I really attribute it to
a cultural change, a serious
Photo by Timothy Ramsey
Judge Denise Hartsfield is fed up with the amount of juvenile violence in the city.
culture change,” she said
about what was contribut
ing to the rise in violence.
“I would like to think at
some point that it may be
because school went vir
tual in March and kids had
a lot more freedom to do
things. I could put it on
COVID, but I really don’t
know, and that’s why I
wanted to speak out. I want
to find out what’s causing
this cultural change in our
community. We are begin
ning to look like Chicago,
we are beginning to look
like Richmond, California
in the 80s, we are begin
ning to look like commu
nities that have had this
problem for some time
now.”
One of the biggest is
sues Hartsfield has is how
certain individuals blame
others for the youth vio
lence problems in the city.
She feels too many people
are passing the buck when
it comes to addressing the
solutions.
“Everybody thinks
that it’s everybody else’s
problem,” she contin
ued. “They think it’s the
church’s problem, they
think it’s the school’s
problem, they think it’s
the court’s problem, they
think it’s the parent’s prob
lem. Everybody can pass
the buck to everybody, but
the reality of this is by the
time I meet these kids, the
damage has already been
done, so my options are
very little.
“There is really noth
ing I can do when you get
to this point except to try
and create some sort of re
ality that says you are here
and you have these charg
es, what’s next?”
Hartsfield says she is
aware of the fear that some
in the community have
about retribution from vio
lent offenders if they tell
authorities what they see.
She says we have to over
come that fear and stand
up for what is right.
“The only way to get
to the root of this problem,
as far as I’m concerned, is
that we as a community
have to stand up and start
reporting what we saw and
trying to make this group
and culture understand
that this is not acceptable
behavior for our city,” said
Hartsfield. “You are not
going to tear up our city,
you are not going to kill up
our city or shoot up each
other because we are not
going to have it.
“We are going to start
reporting people we see
with guns; we are going to
start reporting activity that
is outside of our homes
that is not right. We have
to start identifying people.
Yeah, I know it’s scary, but
at the end of the day, that
is what is going to have
to happen, because by the
time it gets here, it’s too
late.” .
Hartsfield says she re
ceived her biggest wake-
up call when she watched
a YouTube video at a
hearing. In the video, she
watched how a young man
waved an AK-47 around
while in the drive-thru of a
fast food restaurant and the
young lady at the window
was not phased. Hartsfield
says she was shocked at
how calm, relaxed and de
sensitized the youth were
around such a dangerous
weapon.
Hartsfield said the
video really scared her
about how some of the
youth think brandishing
a weapon of that sort is a
normal way of life. She
says she does not have all
the answers, but is actively
looking to collaborate with
like-minded individuals to
find one.
“I don’t have the an
swers, but I want my voice
out there to say that I am
seeking it,” she said. “I
want to know I am looking
for all good people who are
willing to come forward
and help with this issue.
1 am looking for all good
people who are willing and
bold enough and love this
community enough to be
able to report things when
we see it.
“We have to affirma
tively do that or we are
going to lose a whole gen
eration of people, not to
war, not to COVID, not
to crack, but to gun vio
lence.”
Following the deaths
of several unarmed Black
men and women earlier
this year, Hartfield says
she was engaged in a con
versation with someone
who told her that they
didn’t know why every
one was screaming Black
Lives Matter when we are
killing each other. She said
she became upset initially,
but once she thought about
the question in depth, her
opinion changed.
“We need to be affir
mative that these police
killings are senseless, but
we need to be equally as
affirmative to the fact that
us killing each other is
equally as offensive, may
be more offensive,” she
went on to say.
As the only African
American juvenile judge
and a Winston-Salem na
tive, Hartsfield said she is
troubled and feels a differ
ent sense of responsibility
toward the city.
“I feel a special hurt, I
feel a special sense ofhelp-
lessness to some degree,
because it is very troubling
that week after week these
types of offenses continue
to come and the majority
look like me,” she said.
“We have to do more than
chant ‘stop the violence’.”
In her 18 years as a
judge in the county, Harts
field says this is the worst
year for juvenile violent
crimes she has witnessed.
She says there have
been small rises in crime
throughout her career, but
never with this much con
sistency.
“My hope is built on
the fact that we can do bet
ter as a community and we
need to start now, because
we are already about 20
dead children too late,”
she said somberly.
FCSO makes policy changes, prone restraint continues that led to
death of John Neville
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Since the death of John
Neville, the Forsyth Coun
ty Sheriff’s Office (FCSO)
has made several policy
changes, but the prone re
straint that led to Neville’s
death has not been banned.
According to Ma
jor Robert Slater, FCSO
www.wschronicle.com
CO
detention bureau com
mander, there have been
several changes to the de
partment’s Use of Force
policy since Neville died
from asphyxia after he was
restrained by five officers
while using the prone re
straint and basically left
hogtied, lying face down
on a mattress.
Around 3:24 a.m. on
Dec. 2, 2019, Neville suf
fered a seizure while he
was asleep and fell from
the top bunk in his cell
onto the concrete floor. Af
ter seeing him lying on the
floor shaking as if he was
having a seizure, Neville’s
cellmate pushed a panic
button and shortly after
that, detention officers and
the on-call nurse arrived.
They found Neville “dis
oriented and confused”
and decided to move Nev
ille into an observation
cell so the on-duty nurse
could determine what was
wrong.
While he was in the
observation cell, officers
used a prone restraint to
try to get Neville to calm
down. As he was being
restrained by officers,
Neville told officers “Help
me” and “I can’t breathe”
more than 50 times. In re
sponse, officers tell Nev
ille to relax. At one point,
one officer can be heard
saying, “If you can talk,
you can breathe,” and at
another point, “You can
See Neville on A8
WILSON
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