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March 7, 2008

Lieutenant says tribal police resisted state police

John Brown, Narragansett tribal councilman and one of seven defendants on trial for resisting and scuffling with state police during the 2003 raid on the Narragansett smoke shop, listens to testimony from State Police Lt. David Palmer.
Journal Photo/Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE -- Narragansett Indian tribal police told the state police that they would not accept a warrant issued from Rhode Island to enter the tribal-owned smoke shop, according to a state police Lieutenant.

Testifying today in the case of seven Narragansett Indians accused of resisting arrest during the 2003 raid of a tribal smoke shop, State Police Lt. David Palmer said he was first on the scene the day of the raid.

He said the state police expressed concern during a pre-raid briefing that the tribal police would be armed and that state authorities were not sure how tribal police would react.

Palmer -- who was put in charge of the North Providence police after the chief stepped down and a sergeant was convicted of burglary and several other crimes -- described the tribal police as resisting state officials who came onto tribal land. He said the state police told tribal police Lt. Rodney Champlin that if the state police were blocked, there would be arrests.

But, Palmer said, the tribal police continued to try to block the state police, shouting “federal papers, federal papers,” asking to see a federal search warrant.

Before the break, Palmer also described the arrests of several of the defendants, including Randy Noka and Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas.

Extra: See Journal coverage of the 2003 raid, including photos and video

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 11:31 AM | Permalink

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