Firefighter: Greene claimed assault
EMS worker says he was present when stripper allegedly told cops Mayor Kilpatrick’s wife beat her.
Detroit: A city Fire Department lieutenant has come forward after waiting more than five years to say he was present as two police officers interviewed an injured Tamara Greene, who told them she had been assaulted by the mayor’s wife, according to an affidavit filed Monday as part of the lawsuit Greene’s family has filed against the city.
The female spoke rapidly at first, saying her and her friend were dancing at a party at the Manoogian Mansion, and that they mayor’s wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, threw a fit, hit her and the other dancer, then kicked them out of the house, read the affidavit, signed Sunday by Michael J. Kearns.
Kearns is a supervisor for the city¡¦s EMS Division and a 16-year department veteran. The affidavit does not same the plain-clothes officers, but indicates they took notes.
On that night, either a Friday or Saturday in the fall of 2002, Kearns said he was working as field supervisor when he took a radio call seeking help at a gas station at Jefferson and Connor, roughly a mile east of the mansion.
The woman said she was “Tammy Greene” and that she also danced at The Grind, a former downtown Detroit strip club.
In an interview Monday, Kearns said he remembers well meeting Greene that night, which he believes was before her alleged hospital visit.
But at that time, he didn’t believe Greene’s story, he said. Then, weeks later, he was on a run at Belle Isle when he heard sirens near the Manoogian and someone joked about another wild party.
For Kearns, a light bulb when off. “Whoa, maybe this girl was telling the truth,” he said.
He kept quiet for years, he said, because he thought it was hearsay that no one could confirm. And he was worried about losing out on promotions or job assignments if he crossed the mayor’s appointees to the department.
“It had you scared,” he said.
But a detective assigned to the “cold case” squad said Kearns gave him no verifiable information.
He said, “well everybody knows in EMT that there was a party,” Detective Michael Carlisle said. I said, “give me some names and solid dates. He promised to call back. He never did, that’s the extent of the interview.”
The lawsuit names Kwame Kilpatrick, Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, the mayor’s former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, and several police executives.
Earlier this month, the City Council was asked to approve $100,000 for the chief’s legal fees.
Calls by the Detroit News to the mayor’s staff and lawyers, who have been hired to defend the city, were not returned Monday.
“This is a bombshell,” said Norman Yatooma, the Birmingham lawyer who is representing Greene’s family. For the first time we have a witness that puts everything together.”
Kilpatrick has consistently denied that the party ever happened. Attorney General Mike Cox investigated it as a urban legend. However, former Deputy Chief Gary Brown and another officer successfully sued the city for $8.4 million because they alleged, among other things, that they were retaliated against because they either had knowledge of or were ready to investigate the existence of the party.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Greene’s son, Jonathan Bond, and alleges that the Police Department deliberately dragged its feet in solving the death of the exotic dancer because of political reasons. The case seeks more than $150 million in damages.
In recent months, Yatooma has filed an affidavit from Joyce Rogers, a retired Detroit Police Department clerk, who claims she saw a report from Greene asking that charges be filed because the mayor’s wife beat her when she saw the dancer touch the mayor at the alleged party.
Yatooma also filed an affidavit from Greene’s pastor, Ken Hampton of Detroit’s Grace Bible Chapel, who said shortly before Greene was murdered, she confided in him someone was out to get her.
In addition, Yatooma has also been able to obtain a list of everyone who was given city-issued SkyTel pagers. SkyTel would only give the list to a federal magistrate. However, the company has concerns about turning over the actual text messages.
Yatooma then plans to obtain the text messages.
In a second affidavit filed on Monday, a now-retired Fire Department lieutenant, Walter J. Godzwon, said he saw Kilpatrick along with body guards at Detroit Receiving Hospital around the same time Kearns claims to have seen Greene.
“In my conversations with EMS personnel at the scene, I came to understand that the (mayor’s bodyguards) brought in a woman to DRH for treatment at the emergency room,” he stated in the affidavit, which was signed Monday.
Godzwon, contacted by phone Monday, said he’s been telling the same story to others for six years, but that he was reluctant to get involved with the Greene case.
He decided to contact the lawyer about his hospital encounter with Kilpatrick “because I can’t lie.”
“The affidavit speaks for itself,” he said.
But Godzwon, who is retired, said he doesn’t believe Greene was the woman that Kilpatrick’s bodyguards brought to the hospital. “To this day, I don’t know if it’s Tamara Greene,” he said. I don’t believe it was Tamara Greene. But that’s pure speculation on my part.”
Godzwon said he also saw former Detroit EMT Douglas Bayer at the scene.
Bayer recently filed a whistleblower’s lawsuit against the city, alleging he was retaliated against for providing the Michigan State Police with information about the rumored party.
“I made these statements because they’re the truth,” Godzwon said. “Someone put me at the scene and asked me specific questions.”
