Stacy
Brooks filed this report to alt.religion.scientology.
February
1, 2000
This
morning Mark Bunker went with German film
maker Peter Reichelt and Hans Michael Kassel,
director of documentary film for the German
TV station ARD, to Gottfried Helmwein's house
on Palm Bluffs Road, about a mile and a half
north of 33 N. Ft. Harrison. Gottfried is
a Scientology artist in Germany who has apparently
been denying he is a Scientologist, and Peter
and Hans Michael were here gathering documentary
footage to prove he is an active Scientologist.
Peter
asked Mark to go with them to Gottfried's
house so Mark could video them walking up
to the door of the house and knocking on the
door. They had consulted with Wayne Shuler,
the Clearwater Police Public Affairs Officer,
about what they could and could not legally
do, and they followed his direction to the
letter.
As
Mark was videotaping, a man ran out of Gottfried's
house and assaulted Mark with a hammer. He
hit Mark's camera twice but luckily did not
hurt Mark, although Mark was extremely frightened
and shaken when this man ran at him and struck
him with a dangerous weapon. Fortunately Mark
was able to get the assault on videotape and
it will be available on Xenu-TV in about an
hour.
The
man then went back into the front door of
Gottfried's house, and soon after that two
police officers arrived. One of them, Officer
Holsombach, works for the Church of Scientology
at the white lines on Watterson Avenue as
a paid gun to harass the staff of the Lisa
McPherson Trust in his off hours. Mark spoke
to the other one, Officer Kelly, and told
him that a man had just assaulted him with
a hammer and asked the officer if he wanted
to see it on videotape. But Officer Kelly
ignored what Mark was telling him. Instead,
he asked Mark if he had informed the man that
he was audiotaping him. Taken aback by the
question, Mark replied that he had not. Then
Officer Kelly told Mark that he was going
to arrest him for audiotaping the hammer-wielding
man without his knowledge!
At
that point Mark called me and told me he was
about to be arrested. I jumped in my car and
went down to Gottfried's house. When I got
there I saw two police cars and Mark, Peter
and Hans Michael with the two police officers.
There was also another elderly man that I
didn't know. He turned out to be a groundskeeper
for the Helmvein property.
I
approached Mark, but Officer Kelly told me
to stay away. He was extremely unpleasant
and I was afraid he really was going to arrest
Mark. He was writing a report, and I saw that
his hand was shaking uncontrollably. He was
obviously extremely distraught.
Peter
was trying to talk to Officer Kelly but I
could see that it was just getting him more
and more aggravated and upset, so I told Peter
to be quiet and let this police officer calm
down, otherwise Mark was going to be arrested.
The atmosphere was very highly charged and
I was very worried about how Mark was going
to be treated by these officers. They were
obviously biased against Mark because they
were doing nothing to apprehend the man who
had assaulted Mark. Officer Kelly told Mark
he knew he was part of LMT, and he asked the
two Germans if they were also part of LMT.
Fortunately
within a few minutes Sergeant John Zegzdryn
arrived on the scene. I have had dealings
with Sergeant Zegzdryn before and know that
he is a fair, unbiased police officer. I was
greatly relieved when he arrived.
Officer
Kelly conferred with Sergeant Zedzdryn and
then beckoned for Mark, Peter and Hans Michael
to go across the street to talk to him. I
started to cross with them but Officer Kelly
rudely ordered me to stay away. I stopped
but was still able to hear what he was saying
to them. He told them that he could arrest
them right then and there and that they better
not go anywhere near the particular property
again or he would arrest them. He then had
the groundskeeper officially notify them that
they were trespassing and that they were not
wanted there.
As
Officer Kelly was telling them that they could
be arrested, he was addressing his comments
particularly to Mark. When the groundskeeper
gave them the official warning, he wasn't
concerned about Mark at all and directed his
statement to the two Germans who had actually
walked up to the door of the house, while
Mark had stayed on the public sidewalk. But
Officer Kelly was pointedly directing his
communication to Mark.
Then
Officer Kelly released them and told them
they were free to go.
This
was apparently all that was going to be done
until Mark protested that nothing had been
done about the man who had assaulted him with
the hammer.
Then
Sergeant Zegzdryn called Officer Kelly across
the street again and he then approached Mark
to see if he wanted to file a complaint about
the man with the hammer. Sergeant Zegzdryn
was the first one who was willing to watch
the videotape of the assault. Officer Kelly
hadn't even been interested in looking at
it. Mark said absolutely yes, he wanted the
man arrested. The officers then spent time
taking reports from everyone who had been
there, and Mark repeated several times that
he wanted the man arrested. But the police
officers then told us that they were not going
to arrest the man, that they were going to
refer the matter to the state attorney's office.
We
argued with the sergeant about this at length,
but in the end that was his decision. He did
allow Mark to make a copy of the videotape
though. Sergeant Zegzdryn brought the original
videotape to our office and witnessed Mark
making a copy of the part of the tape that
showed the assault. Jesse and I were also
witnesses, because Sergeant Zegzdryn was concerned
that there could be questions about whether
the tape had been altered. But I called Denis
deVlaming, our criminal attorney, and he said
to have the sergeant witness the dubbing and
that would suffice. So that is what we did.
Bob
has already spoken to Doug Crowe in the state
attorney's office and made it clear that we
expect aggravated assault charges against
this man.
I've
just found out that the man who assaulted
Mark with the hammer is named Richard Bernard.
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