40-year-old Timothy Gerald has been an officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department since 1993. Wednesday, his wife called officers to their home in northeast Charlotte. She told a 911 operator that Gerald attacked her. "He jumped on me, he hit me, he threw me down,” the woman is heard saying on the tapes.
Police reports show Gerald is accused of using his "bodily force, hands and knees to strike the victim in the chest, shoulder and cheek area." Neighbors tell us they never hear Gerald and his wife argue, in fact they don't hear much of anything from the home. The couple apparently keeps to themselves and doesn't speak to neighbors. Their kids often play in the front yard.
Gerald, now charged with assault on a female, a misdemeanor, was assigned to work here, at East Mecklenburg High School, as a resource officer. "My friends tell me he was a cool guy to talk to and everything,” says 17-year-old Tony Young. Young says students trust and like Gerald, "Like, you could go talk to him about certain things or whatever, like, during school and he'd help you out with certain things."
In fact, students like Gerald so much, some of them created a Facebook page dedicated to him. The "Free Officer Gerald" group includes posts like "he's such a good person." and "he's done nothing but good." “Only him and his wife know exactly what happened. A lot of us don't,” says Young.
Gerald turned himself in at police headquarters were he was taken into custody. In addition to the criminal investigation, the internal affairs department is also investigating this case. In the meantime, Gerald is on paid administrative leave.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district says it has no comment on the case. The police department is in charge of placing officers in schools, not the school district.
No comments:
Post a Comment