Four days before calling out Williamsburg Regional Library Board of Trustees nominee Wilford Kale for losing his temper at the courthouse earlier this year, James City County Supervisor Jim Kennedy (Stonehouse) had some trouble of his own.
Around 9 p.m. Oct. 4, Kennedy said a crowd of kids gathered in front of his business, Dudley’s Bistro in New Town, where their behavior got out of hand. He called the James City County Police Department, who responded within about 90 seconds of the call, but the crowd dispersed and none of the kids offered any complaints to the police.
The events of the incident outside Dudley’s Bistro garnered different explanations from the responding officers and Kennedy.
The next morning, Kennedy sent an email to County Administrator Robert Middaugh, Chief of Police Emmett Harmon, County Attorney Leo Rogers, a Kaufman & Canoles attorney and several representatives of New Town.
In the email, Kennedy said New Town has “experienced many issues with youth violence, cursing, loitering and lack of police protection, or security staff to handle the crowds and situations that arise.”
Regarding the Oct. 4 incident, Kennedy wrote he called the police for the seventh time this year. He points to the corners at the intersection of Courthouse and Main Streets, saying officers need to be visible in those “high traffic areas.”
Kennedy also wrote he had to call in “this major event that took place for 7 minutes before police arrival.” He said he and three patrons “identified the aggressor” who outran officers.
In response to Kennedy’s email, the two responding officers, Master Police Officer Robert McKenzie and Master Police Officer Keith Campbell, offered their accounts of the incident.
McKenzie said Kennedy’s call to the department was received, dispatched, responded to by radio and responded to in person within about 90 seconds.
“There was no active fighting, no yelling, no screaming, and no victim. Several kids were asked about the ‘fighting’ all of which replied there was no fight,” wrote McKenzie, who said he received the call while in the lobby of the movie theater, which is across the street from Kennedy’s restaurant.
Despite the incident that allegedly took place in front of Dudley’s Bistro, Campbell wrote in his email he did not observe any other criminal activity in New Town that night. He wrote he did see other groups of kids who were being loud but not disorderly or out of control. He also wrote Bruton, Lafayette and Jamestown High schools all had home football games, contributing to a “low kid count” for a Friday night in New Town.
Campbell, who said he arrived at the scene at about the same time as McKenzie, wrote in his email that Kennedy later said he saw the boy who started the alleged fight and pointed him out to the police.
“A very brief foot pursuit ensued,” Campbell wrote, but said he never got close enough to provide a good description because the boy had a head start. The officers encountered a scooter rider at the corner of Discovery Park Boulevard and Ironbound Road who said the boy ran across Ironbound Road toward Ironbound Square, Campbell wrote.
Campbell wrote officers searched Ironbound Square and alerted the Williamsburg Police Department to search the New Hope area, as well.
Dispatch told Campbell the caller wanted a followup with police. In his email, Campbell said he requested McKenzie join him for the conversation: “Having previous knowledge of incidents involving Mr. Kennedy … I requested MPO McKenzie via radio to come over … to serve as a witness while I made contact with him,” he wrote.
After the pursuit, “Mr. Kennedy and his party thanked us and at no time displayed any displeasure as to the actions taken by officers prior to, during, or after the incident,” Campbell wrote.
Campbell also wrote Kennedy made negative comments about the kids in conversations before and after the pursuit — comments Kennedy later admitted to saying, but added he was “joking around.”
“He made comments such as ‘I have a Cadillac and a shovel and no one would miss them.’ He also stated that he gave us permission to shoot them. He stated that he would ‘get a 2×6 board and drill holes in it, pull [their] toes back and hit them on the bottom of their feet because it does not leave bruises.’ These comments and others that I cannot recall right now were made in the presence of MPO McKenzie as well,” Campbell wrote.
McKenzie’s emailed account coincides with Campbell’s.
“He then stated we should just, ‘shoot the little bastards.’ He said he gives us permission to. He then continued stating he had a, ‘Cadillac, a shovel, and could get a bag of [lyme]. No one would miss the little bastards,’” McKenzie wrote. He also detailed the same comment about the 2×6 board as Campbell.
McKenzie wrote officers run into “snide comments” regularly, but “it is very shocking and unsettling to hear that from a member of the Board of Supervisors. I’m sure his constituents would love to hear these comments about what to do with their kids and how the problem in front of his establishment should be resolved.”
In an interview with WYDaily, Kennedy said these exchanges were joking and came from the movies “Clueless” and “Analyze This,” and the board comment related to a book he read in the 1970s.
“Yes, I said those things, but they were in the context of jokes and quotes from movies … and the officers knew that,” Kennedy said in an interview. “It was just a bunch of people talking, joking … I wasn’t ordering them to shoot someone.”
Kennedy said the officers told him they preferred Tasers “because they work better and inflict more pain” and, when asked, said they could use bean bag guns if they were able to get permission. It wasn’t a serious conversation, Kennedy said.
“They weren’t interested in any of the laws, they’re only interested in taking me down,” Kennedy said about the officers’ accounts of the Oct. 4 conversation.
“Somebody internally decided to use this, which is fine, because of what I did with Wilford Kale and the [political action committee] … I am not promoting police brutality … It’s political … I mean, I understand this, this is retribution for the Kale situation,” Kennedy said in an interview.
On Oct. 8, Kennedy spoke against the nomination of Kale to the WRL Board of Trustees because of his political ties to a PAC that supports the two Democratic candidates in the Board of Supervisors races and because of worries about his demeanor following an argument Kale had with deputies at the Williamsburg-James City County Courthouse in January.
In the interview with WYDaily, Kennedy also expanded on the events that led to his call to police Oct. 4. He said the crowd of about 40 to 50 kids gathered in front of his business. One boy allegedly unzipped his pants, exposing himself to another boy who then smacked the boy who was exposing himself. This information does not appear in any of the police accounts.
Prompted by the fight, Kennedy said he went inside his restaurant to retrieve a phone to call the police. He said he looked up the non-emergency phone number for the James City County Police Department and informed the dispatcher of the fight taking place; he asked the responding officers visit his business after dealing with the kids so he could speak with them.
When the officers arrived, Kennedy said the teenagers scattered and the officers never talked to the teenagers or asked about the fight. At that time, Kennedy said “New Town emptied, my patio emptied.”
As the officers approached Kennedy’s restaurant, Kennedy said he saw the boy who started the fight nearby and pointed him out to the officers, who took off in “hot pursuit on foot” after the boy who Kennedy said was running as “fast as greased lightning.”
The officers failed to catch the boy and returned to Kennedy’s restaurant. By this time, Kennedy said he was frustrated because he lost business from the fight.
“I’ve been struggling all year, so you have a good night and it’s taken away from you,” he said.
McKenzie’s account also pointed out “an empty glass of red wine sitting in front of” Kennedy that night. In an interview, Kennedy said two guests had wine and he shared a half glass of wine with them, but can’t drink much because he is on medication.
“We do serve wine and wine is not illegal,” Kennedy said. “If he’s implying that I’m drunk then he could have arrested me for public intoxication.”
In his initial email regarding his displeasure with the Oct. 4 incidents, Kennedy wrote he feels the need to carry a firearm in New Town on weekends because of the violence.
McKenzie addressed that comment in his email, writing, “And do I want Mr. Kennedy to feel the need to carry a firearm in New Town on weekends, absolutely not. We have the manpower around his restaurant to where Mr. Kennedy should not have the need to use a firearm other than ridding the ‘little bastards’ and ‘hooligans’ from being in front of his ‘upscale’ restaurant and patio.”
“Mr. Kennedy seems to be making a broad generalization that kids out at night should be banished to their residences and not allowed in the community. It certainly sheds light on why he wants the ‘little bastards’ shot,” McKenzie continued.
In an interview, Kennedy said he would never shoot someone, but people need to feel safe in New Town. He said he’s concerned about what would happen if a kid brought a weapon into New Town.
After the Oct. 4 event, Kennedy said he was leaving his business after 11 p.m. that same evening, he said a group of seven young men, including the boy Kennedy said exposed himself, were on his car and surrounding cars fighting. He called the police again.
McKenzie also responded to this call, but “again observed no yelling, screaming, victim, or in this case even kids leaving the area.” They dispersed when McKenzie requested they do so.
“I am now also very hesitant to take ANY reports from Mr. Kennedy as he has just proved he is a non-credible witness with his outlandish exaggerations or flat out lies of time frames and actual course of events that occurred on the date in question,” McKenzie wrote.
Kennedy said he is concerned this comment will make him or his family a target because people may think officers won’t respond if he calls for help.
Chief Harmon also responded to the emails among the officers, Kennedy, Middaugh and others. He said he had spoken with the managing director of New Town Associates LLC, Larry Salzman, who said he has been happy with the police service in New Town over the past eight years, and “he never receives any complaints from other [businesses] except for Mr. Kennedy.”
Even though Salzman is happy with police service, Harmon said Salzman is paying for an additional officer to be present in New Town on Friday nights for four weeks, beginning Oct. 11 because of Kennedy’s concerns. Harmon said another officer would also be present at the county’s expense, resulting in five officers present in New Town on Fridays. Two of the officers are paid by the county, two are paid by new town and one is paid by the movie theater.
“Of course, even with the added officers there is no guarantee that we won’t still have the occasional incident, because we will,” Harmon wrote. “I have gotten used to Mr. Kennedy yelling that the sky is falling in New Town every time one of these incidents happen, but the sky is not falling. Mr. Kennedy is the only one who seems to think it is.”
