Update details at bottom –  Facing increased scrutiny the Charlottesville Virginia Police apologize for not investigating and dragging their feet for over three weeks.  

Why the reversal?…. 

….Because facing increasing pressure from social media discoveries, the two thugs, Richard Bernard Spears and Malcom James Stevenson, walk into a police station and turn themselves in.   The police didn’t really have a choice after that happened.

Original Post – This does not surprise me at all based on the location, Charlottesville Virginia. It was Virginia where the police refused to release the 911 call tapes from the Virginia-Pilot Reporters being beaten by dozens of thugs while they shouted “Justice for Trayvon”.

Virginia law enforcement are simply PC paralyzed and unable to discuss the race of criminals in their jurisdiction..

CHARLOTTESVILLE – A couple’s late night stroll on the Christmas-lit Downtown Mall turned to terror in the early morning hours of Friday, December 20, when they were brutally assaulted by three men in what appears to have been a random act of violence.

Even though one of the victims, Jeanne Doucette, managed to take photos that appear to show the assailants as they kicked and pummeled her boyfriend Marc Adams to unconsciousness, Charlottesville Police still do not have any suspects.

Doucette says there were other witnesses to the crime, which allegedly occurred just outside the Wells Fargo building at around 1am as she and Adams walked from Miller’s to Rapture, and she is baffled as to why the police haven’t shared her images more widely with people who could have seen the suspects earlier in the evening.

“I cannot understand why they didn’t let people know what happened,” said Doucette, who still bore injuries from the assault when she met for an interview a week later. “Those pictures might have prompted some tips.”

The images she captured are blurry but nonetheless appear to corroborate her account of the night’s events, including the brutality of the beating, during which she says the assailants joked and laughed, even stopping to hug in the midst of the onslaught.

[…] The grainy photos that Doucette took with her phone (posted below story) show the faces and clothing worn by the three alleged assailants, all black males. Doucette estimated the men were approximately 6’ tall and in their mid-20s or early 30s. In one photo, Adams is lying on his back on the Mall with a man looming over him. Doucette said the man was kicking Adams when she took the picture. In another picture, a large man in a black coat and light colored shirt appears to be moving towards Doucette’s camera as Adams is on his knees in the background.

While Doucette suffered bruising to her head and tearing of the cartilage in her ear, Adams bore the brunt of the men’s aggression, sustaining broken bones and a concussion that he said has robbed him of any memory of the incident and its immediate aftermath.

Flooded with fear and adrenaline, Doucette said, she reacted quickly after the assault began, confronting the first assailant.

“I came up and pushed him away and said, ‘What are you doing?’” she recalled.

The incident escalated when the man responded by striking her.

“The guy hits me repeatedly in the ear,” she said. “My earring was stabbing me in the head over and over.”

Two other men soon joined in the beating, Doucette said, and while they primarily focused on Adams, a local musician who at 5’5″ and 140 pounds was outsized and outnumbered, they would occasionally strike her.

“When he’d tell them to stop hitting me, they’d hit me twice,” said Doucette, who is 5’2″.

[…] “They were laughing, high-fiving, hugging, and then returning to kick him,” said Doucette. “There was some kind of camaraderie to it.” (continue reading and see pictures)

————————–  Update Below  ————————-

UPDATE: Charlottesville police have identified the people they say are responsible for a beating on the downtown mall.

Police say around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, two men came to police headquarters and surrendered for their role in the attack on December 20. Both men have now been charged with assault and battery. Richard Spears, 23 (left), and Malcolm Stevenson, 25 (right), are facing misdemeanor assault charges.

Police say, based on their investigation, this is what happened the night of December 20 on Charlottesville downtown mall: Victims Jeanne Doucette and Marc Adams were walking on the mall when Adams tripped. A group of men started laughing and mocking him. A verbal confrontation began, which led to a physical confrontation.

A witness told police that Stevenson lifted Adams up and threw him to the ground. Police say Spears admitted to punching Doucette.

“Nothing was taken. No evidence by statement either by victim, suspect, or independent witnesses, that that was ever part of what took place. Again not to minimize, what begins as a verbal confrontation ends in some type of physical escalation and, frankly, that happens from time to time on the mall, particularly when alcohol is in the mix, which may have played a part of this,” said Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo.

This case received a lot of attention on social media after the photos were shared on Facebook. There was a lot of criticism about the lag time of getting the case into the hands of an investigator. At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Chief Tim Longo admitted there was a breakdown, saying the case was assigned to a patrol officer but should have been moved to the investigations division.

“It’s not because I don’t think patrol officers can conduct an investigation properly,” he said. “Patrol officers conduct investigations every day, it’s just that this is a resource-intensive process.”

Longo says the department has been reviewing procedures to make sure the breakdown doesn’t happen again.  (continue reading)

Also video here