There was, apparently, enough evidence for the State Attorney to charge Key West Police Officer Michael Beerbower with three counts of battery last week. Two officers— Steve Austin and Robert Currul— have testified that they saw Beerbower beat two handcuffed suspects on the night of July 6, 2000. And there is some evidence that other officers may have watched and, possibly, cheered. (See related commentary on this page.)
But most of the officers questioned by investigators have, apparently, come down with a bad case of "blue amnesia". Some say they don't remember any excessive force. Others say they didn't even hear about any excessive force— even thought the incident was the talk of the police department for weeks. Some don't even remember seeing Officer Austin at the scene, even though he was involved in the arrest of both suspects.
"I didn't see anything involving Officer Austin or Officer Beerbower," said Officer Ken Stinson.
"Officer Austin wasn't even there," said Officer Frank Cohens.
"I haven't heard from anybody that Officer Beerbower did anything wrong," said Detective Bernardo "Bear" Barrios— even though both suspects said they complained about police brutality to both Barrios and Detective Frank Duponty.
Duponty couldn't remember anything like that either. "I don't recall any mention by the defendants about who was hitting them." He did recall, however, that one of the suspects had a scraped elbow.
"I don't remember anything about anyone hitting any of the defendants," said Detective Hollis Wood.
"I don't recall," said Officer Alvaro Rodriquez.
"I saw no excessive force," said Officer Eric Wishe.
Officer Geoffrey Harris said he didn't see any punching and he, too, said he doesn't remember even seeing Austin at the scene.
Officer Brenda Sellers said she didn't see any excessive force, but she does remember seeing Officer Austin at the scene. "He used some inappropriate language," she complained to investigators.
What does Beerbower have to say? He refused to talk to investigators.