EAST METRO’S FINEST
Nominate your favorites It’s time to nominate your favorite people and places in the 2012 Best of East Metro Peoples Choice Awards. The nomination form is on pages A6&A7
SCENE
WELLNESS
The cast of “Annie” will visit North DeKalb Mall to promote the Broadway musical’s coming run at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. A8
AAA and safety experts are encouraging parents to make sure young bicycle riders wear their helmets to prevent head injuries. A9
Annie in the house
Focus on bike safety
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2012 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
January 7, 2012
Volume 17, Number 36
www.crossroadsnews.com
Lithonia, Clarkston seeking police chiefs Remembering the Dreamer By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
dicated to him his desire to pursue an opportunity with the federal government. “We appreciate Chief Scipio’s service to the citizens of Clarkston since his appointment in 2005,” Barker said. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.” Barker said that Capt. Christine Hudson has been appointed interim police chief until further notice. She will manage Tony Scipio the city’s force of 15 full-time officers and 47 reserve officers. Harrell left the city of Lithonia on Dec. 30 and declined the invitation of incoming Mayor Deborah Jackson to stay on for a few weeks while they search for a new chief. “He said he thought the change of administration was a good opportunity for a fresh start,” she said. Harrell, a 25-year veteran who took early retirement from the DeKalb County Police Force in 2009, became the city’s
The cities of Clarkston and Lithonia are without police chiefs after a retirement and a resignation. Tony Scipio, who was Clarkston’s police chief for seven years, retired Jan. 4, and Lithonia Chief Kennis Harrell’s resignation was effective Dec. 30. Some Clarkston residents said Scipio’s Kennis Harrell departure was sudden, but Mayor Emanuel Ransom said Thursday that it wasn’t. “He gave us notice he was retiring,” he said. In his Jan. 4 retirement letter to City Manager Keith Barker, Scipio said his official retirement date is Oct. 23 but that he “will leave today to prepare for my new post.” “It brings me great pleasure to submit my retirement notification effective today, Jan. 4, 2012,” he said. Scipio, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, could not be reached at press time, but Barker said Thursday that he in- Please see CHIEFS, page A4
Jan. 15 is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. On Jan. 16 – the 26th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day, metro Atlanta and DeKalb County will join the nation in celebrating his ideals of service. Section B, Inside
Erin: ‘I thought I was going to die’ Testimony in dog attack elicits tears in courtroom By Carla Parker
When 10-year-old Erin Ingram took the stand in DeKalb State Court on Thursday, there was hardly a dry eye in the room. As she testified about being mauled by two pit bulls in front of her Lithonia home on March 9, 2010, people began daubing at their eyes. “I thought I was going to die,” she said. Erin, whose chewed up left arm had to be amputated, showed her scarred arms Twyann Vaughn to the State Court jury. “They were biting on my arms and ankles,” she said in a soft voice. “I was screaming for help.” Her father, Tommie, who testified before her on Jan. 5, said when he saw his daughter’s arm, it looked like “shredded meat.” He said he still has nightmares about the attack. “It tears you down more than anything you could ever imagine,” he said. Erin was an 8-year-old third-grader at Rock Chapel Elementary when she was attacked in the Brooks Estates subdivision off Union Grove Church Road. She said she looking for her friends to play basketball when the dogs chased, toppled and dragged her down the street. Her testimony came at the trial of the dogs’ owner, Twyann Vaughn, which began Jan. 4 and was expected to wrap up Jan. 6. Vaughn faces two counts each of reckless conduct, violation of the county’s vicious dog ordinance, and not having the dogs immunized for rabies. If convicted for the attack, she could face up to five years in prison. On opening day, DeKalb Solicitor-General Sherry Boston, who is trying the case herself, told jurors that evidence will show that Vaughn knew the dogs were wild, aggressive and improperly restrained. “The dogs were left unattended and unfenced in her
Erin Ingram, now 10 years old, told a DeKalb Jury about the day of terror on May 9, 2010, that cost her an arm and robbed her of her peace of mind.
front yard,” Boston said. “This terrible tragedy didn’t have to happen.” Vaughn‘s attorney Gerald Griggs challenged witnesses who testified that the dogs roamed the neighborhood, barked and snapped at residents. He said Erin and other children played with the dogs. “The evidence is going to be hard to hear but in the end, the facts are going to show this was not a criminal act,” Griggs
said. “This was, is, an unfortunate accident.” On the day of the attack, Vaughn was moving from the rental property in the neighborhood and had left the dogs alone in a broken kennel. Lisa Appleberry-Vining, who was showing a potential tenant the rental house, testified on Wednesday that she had just spoken to Erin minutes before the attack. Appleberry-Vining called 911 as she was trying to scare off the dogs with her car. “Oh my God, they’re still chewing her,” AppleberryVining told the dispatcher. Erin’s cries for help could be heard on the 911 call as the dogs mauled her. “Please get them off of me,” Erin is heard saying in the tape. “Please help me. They’re hurting me. Please run them over!” One of seven jurors wiped away tears as she listened to Erin’s screams on the 911 tape. Another neighbor, Glenda Gaines-Poythress, testified that the dogs were on each side of Erin biting her. Gaines-Poythress said she jumped out of her car and tried to beat the dogs with an umbrella before one dog turned on her. “When one would come after me, the other would go back more after her,” Gaines-Poythress said through tears. “They wouldn’t let her go.” The dogs also refused to release Erin after Sgt. R.B. Peeler ran at them and hit them full force with a metal baton. Peeler demonstrated how he used his baton on the dogs and testified that using the baton multiple times never stopped the dogs from attacking Erin. When the larger dog lunged at Peeler, he said he shot it in the head, firing his gun for the first time in a 12-year career. The other dog ran back home but was later recovered and euthanized. Erin had 10 surgeries to try and save the mangled arm. Doctors were forced to amputate it to save her life. Ingram said his daughter’s medical bills totaled more than $100,000, and she has fears about leaving the house. “It was real hard for her to just sit on the porch,” he said. “She would always sit under my arm.” The family eventually relocated to Lawrenceville. Her father said that she slowly has turned back to her normal, playful self. “The fear isn’t as bad as it used to be,” he said.