Police Had No Firm Identification of Suspect Before Dee Brown Arrest

Police officers lacked a firm identification of an alleged bank robber when they drew their guns on Boston Celtics rookie Dee Brown last week, according to transcripts of police tapes released today.

In releasing the tapes police admitted they took their action based on a shaky description given by a bank manager who said she saw Brown. They also said South Shore Bank Manager Sharlene Harris had never seen the actual bank robbery suspect, despite earlier police statements to the contrary.

Lt. Donald Whalen, in charge of investigating the incident, said Brown was first spotted by a clerk at the bank who had seen the actual robbery suspect. The clerk then pointed out Brown to Harris, who phoned police, Whalen said.

Harris offered a tentative identification of the suspect when she called police after spotting Brown in his car last Friday.

But when Police Sgt. Robert Meaney relayed the message to officers heading to the scene, he told them the bank manager and another employee “have pretty much confirmed” Brown as the man who robbed the bank Sept. 18.

Brown, who is black, was with his girlfriend, Jill Edmondson, when five police officers drew their guns, ordered him from his car and forced him to lie on the pavement until his identity was established.

Harris told a police dispatcher in a taped phone conversation between the two: “We just spotted a black man across the street coming out of the post office and it looks strangely like the man that was in our office.”

“It looks very much like him. We’re not positive. . . . We’re across the street,” Harris said.

In the aftermath of the incident, at least 500 Wellesley residents signed a letter apologizing to Brown. The letter also said the signers “will do everything we can to assure that such harassment will never happen again in our town.”

At Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s hearing, black residents complained of police harassment.

Selectmen took the matter under advisement, and the board’s executive secretary, Thomas Lee, said there may be further discussion.

“The comments (Monday) were not limited to the Brown issue, so we have to sift out and see if we have some type of problem here,” Lee said.