Cape & Islands News

D.A. says cops justified in Barry Scott arrest

Described as routine police response during summer
Complainant gave wrong address and direction of noise

By Laura Kiritsy, Bay Windows

“We found no improprieties or unlawfulness with the police activity” -O’KeefeProvincetown police officers acted appropriately when arresting Barry Scott while he was deejaying a party they sought to break up back in July, said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe Sept. 18, whose office recently concluded an investigation into the incident.

“We found no improprieties or unlawfulness with the police activity,” said O’Keefe, who added that he has forwarded a report of his investigation to Provincetown Town Manager Sharon Lynn. In August, Lynn asked O’Keefe’s office to investigate the incident after controversy arose when Scott and witnesses at the party accused the police officers of acting with unnecessary force when they arrested Scott, the openly gay host of the oldies radio show “The Lost 45s With Barry Scott.”

“It’s the kind of situation that is on its face volatile in nature. But when you really look at it, it’s a rather routine police response to a noise complaint type of a situation in Cape towns during the summer,” O’Keefe said in a brief interview. He referred Bay Windows to Lynn for further comment about the report’s findings; Lynn could not be reached for comment by press time.

O’Keefe refused to make the report available to Bay Windows. He also said should she ask him, he would advise Lynn not to release the report until Scott’s court case is adjudicated. Scott, who is facing charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, appeared in Orleans District Court on Sept. 14, at which point he and his attorney, Christopher Snow, were presented with a “bill of particulars,” a statement detailing the prosecution’s legal claims behind the charges against Scott. Snow said that among the legal claims the prosecution plans to put forth is that Scott spoke negatively about the police. “They claim he made some statements that were clearly — if you believe the statements — that they said were critical of the police,” said Snow. “That’s the crime.”

Scott, who owns a home in Provincetown, is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 19.

A recording of the noise complaints made to the P'town PD reveal that four of them came from Yvonne Cabral, the owner of Provincetown Trolley who made news last year for having a public spat with Provincetown Magazine publisher Rick Hines over Cabral’s signing of a petition for an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.Scott suffered a gash on his nose and injuries to his leg and toes during the arrest, which came after Provincetown police officers responded to noise complaints for the third time July 14 to the Holway Avenue home of Ed Foley, who was celebrating his birthday. Organizers of the party have said that they complied with the officers’ orders to have Scott lower the volume of the music during their previous visits to the home. According to Scott and guests at the party, when the officers ordered them on their third visit to shut the party down, Scott used his microphone to inform the approximately 50 guests that the police had ordered an end to the festivities. Witnesses have said that Scott calmly complained that taxpaying town residents could not enjoy a birthday party in their own homes. Scott and the witnesses allege that police then aggressively descended on Scott to arrest him, claiming that he was inciting a riot. But Scott and witnesses say that he cooperated with police. Scott’s partner Bryan Richardson was also taken into protective custody that night after police officers accused him of being intoxicated, which Richardson has denied. Richardson, who said he takes medication for a chronic back condition, has said he was injured by police while being taken into custody and that officers later ignored his pleas for his prescription medication — which they had confiscated — and for assistance in getting up to use the bathroom, causing him to soil himself.

Acting Provincetown Police Chief Warren Tobias has also said that police officers acted appropriately during the incident (See “Popular DJ Arrested In P’town,” July 20). The town’s board of selectmen rebuffed calls by witnesses to Scott’s arrest to investigate the incident.

Meanwhile, a Bay Windows review of a recording of the noise complaints made to the Provincetown Police Department on the night of July 14 reveal that at least four of them came from Yvonne Cabral, the owner of Provincetown Trolley, Inc., who made news last year for having a public spat with Provincetown Magazine publisher Rick Hines over Cabral’s signing of a petition for an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. Cabral lives at 7 Court St., about a quarter of a mile away from 4 Holway Ave. Initially, Cabral suggested to police that the music might be coming from the East End of town — the opposite side of town — as the music sounded “really, really far away.” She later called back to say that the music was coming from a private party in the area of the Center for Coastal Studies, which is located at 5 Holway Ave.

Cabral made the same assertion in subsequent calls, though she was never specified an address. In between Cabral’s complaints, another caller complained about noise coming from a party at 7 Cudworth St., an address that is situated between Cabral’s home and 4 Holway Ave. Later in the recording, a dispatcher informed an officer readying to respond to the area that there were two separate parties and that “we’re trying to … unbundle them.”  Not long after that, a female officer who said she was in the area of Cudworth Street can be heard telling an officer who apparently is in the area of Holway Avenue that the noise was “definitely coming from your location.”

Richardson expressed frustration with the slow pace of the court proceedings and what he believes to be a “cover-up” of the Provincetown police officers’ behavior toward him and Scott at all levels of town government. “It’s a night that I’ll never forget. I have nightmares to this day about it,” said Richardson, who noted that he and Scott have sought counseling through Fenway Community Health’s Violence Recovery Program. “And it just doesn’t seem like any justice is being done” he added, noting that the officer that allegedly roughed up Scott was allowed to remain on the job. “He didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.”