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FBI looks into abuse allegation against local law enforcement

By Lisa Majors-Duff
An official with the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed this week the agency is looking into allegations that a Cherokee man's civil rights were violated by area law enforcement officers.

The investigation stems from the April 26 arrest of Cherokee resident James Robert Wolfe Jr., who said officers with the Jackson County Sheriff Department, Cherokee Police Department and the N.C. Highway Patrol participated in abuse that resulted in his being hospitalized.

"We get complaints like this routinely and we look into them to determine if a violation of federal law has occurred," Supervisory Special Agent Rick Schwein of the Asheville FBI office said Tuesday.

According to court records, Wolfe, age 28, of Gallimore Road, was stopped by an officer with the Highway Patrol at 11:51 p.m. Friday, April 26, and charged with DWI. Wolfe alleges he sustained several injuries after officers beat him into submission, according to published reports.

"I was there when he was arrested; I was there when he was put in the car," Jackson County Sheriff Jim Cruzan said. "Nobody hit him."

Additional charges against Wolfe from the same incident include assaulting a government official and resisting a public officer. Warrants were sworn out by T.C. Welch of the Cherokee Police Department, who said Wolfe kicked him in the leg.

"(Wolfe) was really messed up, completely out of it," the sheriff said.

After Wolfe was taken away by the Cherokee Police, Cruzan said he never saw Wolfe again, though he was held for a brief time at the Jackson County Jail after being evaluated at Harris Regional Hospital for what the sheriff termed "extreme intoxication."

While neither Cherokee Police Department nor Highway Patrol officials are commenting on the incident, Cruzan said Monday he and his office will cooperate fully with the FBI probe.

"I'll cooperate any way they want," he said. "But really, this is so false I haven't given it much thought."

Once the bureau's investigation is complete, the results will be turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office, which will determine if the facts warrant charges, Schwein said.

Back to Archive: 05/23/02.