Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 12, 2009
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local ... ing/25268/[/quote]
Bristol, Va., Officer Gary Wilcox will not face criminal charges in the May 16 shooting that left John Gramling in critical condition, said the special prosecutor appointed to the case. The prosecution will move forward against Gramling, 50, who is accused of pulling a gun on Wilcox.
“I think [Wilcox] acted appropriately under the circumstances,” said special prosecutor Brian Patton, who became Russell County’s commonwealth’s attorney in April.
Patton was appointed to review the case after Bristol Commonwealth’s Attorney Jerry Wolfe declared a conflict; Wolfe’s office regularly works with Wilcox, and the officer is married to an assistant prosecutor there.
Patton received the Virginia State Police’s investigative report Tuesday.
“It looked like everything was in order with that,” he said of the report’s findings.
Patton declined to release any details, which will likely bear on Gramling’s prosecution.
Meanwhile, Gramling’s condition has stabilized and he was booked Tuesday at the city jail. He still requires a urine catheter, his wife said.
“I’m extremely concerned and am hoping that he gets his medicine properly so he can heal,” the wife, Helen Oliver, said in a phone interview. “I know he’s in a lot of pain.”
Gramling is charged with assaulting a police officer, possessing a concealed weapon, brandishing a firearm and use of a firearm in commission of a felony. He is being held on a $60,00 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
The confrontation between Wilcox and Gramling took place in the early morning hours, when officers responded to a report of an “intoxicated male ... making threats to the other people in the apartment,” Bristol Virginia Police Department records show.
The 911 call came in at 2:21 a.m., and Wilcox and another officer arrived at the Hickory Knoll apartment complex a few minutes later, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. At 2:55 a.m., the incident is labeled “handled by officer.”
Few details have come to light about what took place during the half-hour that ended with Wilcox firing his gun.
Immediately following the incident, the city’s Police Department released a statement whose timeline differs from that described in their records.
The statement indicates that officers were dispatched at 3:14 a.m.; the records show that Wilcox and Sgt. Sean Carrigan arrived at 2:26 a.m. and 2:28 a.m., respectively. Wilcox observed Gramling as he pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex, according to the statement.
Gramling approached Wilcox and refused to show his hands, despite Wilcox’s command for him to do so. Gramling pulled a handgun from behind his back, pointed it at Wilcox, and the officer fired, striking him three times, the police version states.
It is not clear whether any residents of the apartment complex witnessed the confrontation. Kim Harmon, who lives adjacent to the unit where Gramling lived, said she was awake but heard nothing before the shots were fired.
Gramling’s shooting and subsequent criminal charges shocked Oliver and Kelly Gramling, his daughter from another relationship, who have never known him to be violent or own a gun.
Sullivan County court records show that Gramling pleaded guilty to domestic assault in September 2007 after a dispute with Oliver. But Oliver said Thursday that her husband did not assault her, and that she never knew charges had been filed against him. She said he had never been violent toward her.
In pleading guilty, Gramling signed a document advising him that it would be a federal offense to possess a firearm upon his conviction.
Gramling received a suspended one-year jail sentence and was placed on active probation, but he did not fully comply with the terms, court records show. His probation officer last August filed a motion to revoke Gramling’s suspended sentence, but the violation notice was never served on Gramling, who by then had moved across the state line into Virginia. The Sullivan County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office does not cross the state line to serve a notice, and an arrest warrant was never issued.
Wilcox, a veteran lawman who joined the Bristol force just a year ago, was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting. He has been cleared by a psychologist to return to work, said Maj. Greg Baker.
“As with anything like this, it’s unfortunate that those incidents occur,” Baker said. “We’re happy that the officer was safe, and we’re also pleased that [Gramling] didn’t die from the shooting. Certainly, we believe it was justified, naturally.”
dgilbert@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2558
