Birmingham Blues

…Birmingham News says it’s time for him to come clean.

Birmingham City Councilman Joel Montgomery is back on the job nearly two months after falling on Birmingham’s Southside and being arrested and charged with public intoxication. But Montgomery’s District 1 constituents, City Council colleagues and others still are waiting to hear an explanation from Montgomery for what happened that night.

Thus far, Montgomery, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, is keeping his side of the story to himself. He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor public intoxication charge in Birmingham Municipal Court last week, but that only raises more questions.

If Montgomery was not drunk and a danger to himself and others, the Birmingham Police Department made a serious error at best. If Montgomery wasn’t intoxicated, the arresting officer should be investigated after writing in her report that, after coming to Montgomery’s aid, the councilman clearly was drunk, dared her to arrest him and challenged the officer with a “Do you know who I am” question. Then, she wrote in her report, Montgomery cursed and insulted her, continuing his belligerence even in the patrol car after being taken into custody.

I’d be quite interested to hear an explanation for why a police officer, who knows Montgomery can make her life hell, would fabricate the details in the arrest report.  Perhaps Montgomery’s constituents would also like to know why he can’t seem to control his behavior around women — he has a documented history of sexual harassment and a reputation as a nasty drunk, and hearing that he made abusive and suggestive comments to the officer really isn’t all that surprising.

His trial is scheduled for August 16 in Municipal Court.  The News suggests that he should address the charges and get the whole mess behind him before then.  I have to disagree with them there.  I’m already figuring out how I can arrange my schedule to attend.  Knowing Mr. Montgomery and his mouth, this could be really entertaining, in a sick sort of way.  I may even bring popcorn.

Related posts here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 10:47 am and is filed under Local Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.