Local News in Brief : Police Chief Accused
The wife of a Santa Monica police officer filed a claim against the city Monday and accused Police Chief James Keane of assault and battery, alleging that he slapped her in a Feb. 10 incident.
Keane denied the allegation, saying he only touched Carolyn Holmes-McCray on the cheek in a friendly manner when the two encountered each other at the station. Holmes-McCray used to work for him.
Holmes-McCray, who is black, was joined in a press conference announcing her claim by Norm Curry, president of the Santa Monica-Venice chapter of the NAACP. Curry said his organization was protesting the incident as part of “continuous (racial) harassment” by the Santa Monica Police Department.
Holmes-McCray’s husband, Officer Henry McCray, has been on stress-related leave since last October. He is one of six black officers who on Feb. 12 filed a racial discrimination suit against the department.
The district attorney’s office is investigating a police report that Holmes-McCray filed on the incident April 1.
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