Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Was Barry Scott Sold Out by Friend?

Ed Foley was the man that hired Barry Scott to DJ his 40th birthday party where Mr. Scott was arrested last July in what seemed like an instance of police brutality. Here are some of the things Foley had to say when this had first occurred:

WITNESS STATEMENT


-----Original Message-----

From: eddycut@XXXXXXX

Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 10:04 PM

Subject: Re: Police Brutality/ Civil Rights Violations at 40th Birthday Party Saturday, 7/14/07


To whom it may concern:


On Sat. July 14 2007 I hosted a birthday party for myself at my home in provincetown. Barry Scott was hired as a DJ .


Over the course of the evening the police came three times on the third time the police told Barry to turn off the music. After a brief explanation, as to why the party was over, the police arrested Barry Scott, in my opinion I believe it was with excessive force.


Edward Foley



Provincetown Banner 07-19-07 Pru Sowers, reporter Police Blamed for Undue Force


--Edward Foley, the owner of 4 Holway who had asked Scott to be the DJ at his birthday party Saturday night, said Scott gave a calm, 30 second speech explaining that the police had shut the party down.


“His explanation was, ‘unfortunately the Provincetown police are not very happy with us now. At this point, we’re not happy with them. We’re taxpayers here. This should not be happening.’” Foley said. “Then (police) charged at him. When his head came up, his face was gouged, his nose was gouged and his face was bleeding.”



(same statements reprinted exactly as quoted above in the 08-02-07 Banner article, Pru Sowers)






Cape Codder 07-19-07 Steve Desroches, reporter


Foley said that the police were “out of control” and the noise complaints to begin with were ridiculous as the party was quiet and small.

“The police department needs to look at how they handle themselves.” said Foley.





Bay Windows 07-19-07 Laura Kiritsy, reporter Popular DJ arrested in town


--According to attendees who spoke with Bay Windows, the party was a low-key gathering of people who ranged in age from 30 something to mid 50s. Many of them, said Foley and Donovan, do not drink alcohol. They said there were no drugs at the party.


“It wasn’t a rave,” said Foley, “It was just, like, a real sedate party.”



--But before Scott could finish his statement, the officers accused of him inciting a riot and rushed to arrest him. “The whole party was standing there shocked.” said Foley.


--As they watched the scene unfold, stunned guests shouted about police brutality. “They just really roughed him up for no reason whatsoever,” said Foley.



In News Weekly 07-19-07 Steve Desroches, reporter Gay Bashing or Excessive use of Force?


--The host of the party, Ed Foley, said that the police were “out of control” and the noise complaints to begin with were ridiculous as the party was quiet and small.


“The police department needs to look at how they handle themselves,” said Foley. “It has nothing to do with being gay at all. I’m not going to blow things out of proportion and say it was a gay thing.”





Edge 07-19-07 Kilian Melloy, reporter Questions raised about use of force


--Edward Foley, the owner of the home where the incident took place and the birthday celebrant at whose party Scott was serving as DJ, said that Scott delivered a calm explanation as to why the party was ending. According to Foley, “His explanation was, ‘unfortunately the Provincetown police are not very happy with us now. At this point, we’re not happy with them. We’re taxpayers here. This should not be happening.’”


Then, said Foley, the officers “charged at him. When his head came up, his face was gouged, his nose was gouged and his face was bleeding.”


The Banner article said that other witnesses corroborated Foley’s version of events.






Edge 07-20-07 Kilian Melloy, reporter Witnesses Contradict Police reports


Said Donovan, who stayed at Foley’s house until Scott and Richardson returned, around 3am, “Eddy—the host, the birthday guy—came in and said ‘I think everyone needs to leave, they’re not in good shape.’



Banner: 08-02-07 Pru Sowers, reporter Lynne Wants DA Probe of Police Conduct


Edward Foley, who had asked Scott to be the deejay at his birthday party on July 14th, said Scott gave a calm, 30 second speech explaining that the police had shut the party down.


“His explanation was ‘unfortunately the Provincetown Police are not very happy with us now. At this point, we’re not happy with them. We’re taxpayers here. This should not be happening,” Foley said, “Then Police charged at him. When his head came up, his face was gouged, his nose was gouged and his face was bleeding.”


All this being said it is in stark contrast to his testimony as a witness for the prosecution. It is speculated that Ed Foley, the homeowner at the party where Scott was a DJ, may have changed his story to help the town, and in return Ed was recently granted a rare license to build TWO, 2 bedroom/2 bath condos. While Foley's motives may not be discrenable the license is tangible enough to make one wonder.

With the corroberating stories from other witnesses Foley's drastic change in story definitely makes one wonder. Scott has stated that he is glad the whole ordeal is over and is looking forward to putting this behind him although he does not feel that justice was served.

It seems to me that there are a lot of loose ends left here, for example, how do the police reconcile their treatment of Scott's partner? He was detained without cause, then he was left in his cell unable to stand from a back injury and forced to soil himself while police looked on and laughed about it. You don't have to look long or hard to find issues in this case worth discussing further, but it seems that this is becoming a closed case. Being an advocate for the release of Ben LaGuer I am all too familiar with the high cost of true justice in our state, and I don't begrudge Scott for deciding to call it quits. There are far too few people interested in doing the right thing than in taking care of themselves it seems.

UPDATED 7/31-08

It seems there may have been jury issues here as well:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/provincetown/news/x1542104152/DJ-jury-may-have-violated-instructions

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Comments can be sent to Ed Foley @ eddycut@comcast.net he needs to know that what he did helped no one and permanently tarnished his own character!

John Hosty said...

For those of you unfamiliar with the policies of this blog please read below where it says "Leave your comment". I have on occasion allowed comments that violate this policy for the sake of argument, but as a whole I do not allow personal attacks, especially those from anonymous people too cowardly to leave their name.

The comment in question will not be posted, so if the owner of it would like to resubmit it in a more civil tone feel free.

Anonymous said...

The views represented on this blog are very one sided. The jury heard the facts and came to a just decision. As a guest of this party, it was obvious that Mr. Scott resisted arrest and his "injuries" were a direct result of his own actions. It is unfortunate that Mr. Scott is not happy with the verdict and his option is to appeal. Unfortunately the end results will be the same.

John Hosty said...

The views of this blog are that the Provincetown Police used acessive force in arresting Barry Scott. He's 5'4 and all of 125lbs., there is no need for two officers each over 200lbs. to hurt him while effecting his arrest, none what so ever.

I followed up on this story right from the very begining and when I called the police department in order to get the facts they denied the public the police reports which are public documents. They also withheld the names of the two rookie summer officers and instead gave me the names of the veteran police as if the rookies were never there.

These are two facts that make this case stink like Hell.

Out of curiousity, why do you need to be anonymous and why are you sure that an appeal would end the same way, are you on the take?