Detroit Cover-Up Results In Charges
ATF agents accused of lying

By Wayne Woolley / The Detroit News
Wednesday, September 30, 1998

DETROIT -- Two ATF special agents face criminal charges stemming from a raid where one agent allegedly kicked a suspect in the head and both tried to cover it up.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agents Regan J. Scott and Joel J. Kirkpatrick were indicted earlier this month by a federal grand jury on charges they abused their positions and disobeyed orders by participating in a raid with Detroit Police on Oct. 7, 1996.

Scott faces the additional charge of kicking Arthur Bruce Norris -- the target of the raid -- in the head hard enough to injure the Detroit man, the indictment said.

Special Agent Vera Fedorak, an ATF spokeswoman in Detroit, said both men have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case. She was unable to say if it is a paid leave.

The agents will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh in Ann Arbor. No date has been set.

Neither the agents nor Norris could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Detroit Police were unable to say Tuesday why Norris was targeted for arrest during the raid.

According to the indictment, Norris was under surveillance by Scott and Kirkpatrick before the raid, but ATF Supervisory Special Agent John Carpenter warned Scott not to arrest Norris without authorization from the agency.

According to the indictment, the agents had not been cleared to participate in the raid that led to Norris' arrest.

After Norris was apprehended, Scott allegedly lied about the circumstances surrounding the arrest, telling Carpenter that he and Kirkpatrick went into the house 15 to 20 minutes after the police and that he kicked Norris because Norris was struggling with a Detroit police officer, the indictment said. The indictment said Scott's attack on Norris was unprovoked.

Kirkpatrick allegedly went along with Scott's false account of the arrest when both agents were questioned by Carpenter and then allegedly lied to FBI agents and other ATF officials who were reviewing the matter, the indictment said.

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