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May 15, 1967 Mr. Baynes telephoned the office of the Community Relations Commission, Monday afternoon from the jail to ask for ass1stance. He was released Monday night and came to the office and gave this statement . CASE OF ROBERT LEE BAYNES, 53 HOUGUE STREET, N. E. Sunday, May 14th, I went to Church with my mother about 11:00 a.m. to the Israel Baptist Church ••• Became ill, soon after I got there and left. went back home by Taxi and got home about 11:50 a.m. I Sat on the iporch for about ten or fifteen minutes trying to recupexate and finally, I f elt better and went across the street to a friend's house on Auburn Ave., Amie Ros~ to visit her and some of her relatives who were here to attend a funeral that was held the previous day. I arrived at the Ross home about 12:15 p.m. and stayed until about 1:30; went home .and rested until about 4 or 5 o'clock p.m •• and prepared ~upper for myself. until abQUt 12:30 or 1:00 a.m. off. \. I had visitors about 8:00 p.m •• Got up They stayed As they left, I went out to the car to see them As I was returning to my house, two men came pass and asked for a ~igarette. I gave them a cigarette. almost ran oner us. In the meantime, the police ra~ into the corne r and They turned the corner, they jumped out the car with guns and demanded that I put my hands up. because I said so dammit ••• " of them •• • " I ask~d t hem why---the police man said, Then he, the pol i ~eman said, "I got them , both He said you came from down the street, I said no I didn't , ~e said you are a damn lie ; you did. One of the two men that asked me for a ci garette was standing across the street, the other was against the car with me with his hands up , under cover by the policeman's gun. The man that was standing across t he street came over and told the police that I was not with them and had not come up the st r eet . A cab driver drove up about tha t time and told the police that he ha d t he wrong man . I told the police , you s ee you . are about to ge t s ome bo dy killed. The polic e said Hell , anybody can mak e a mistake . now••• ,,;·· He said furthe r, yo u ca n go I walked back across the street to my house . in th e a re a--a f ew residents , a s well . A lot of pol i ce ha d gat he r e d I was s t anding on the perc h, th i s same ca b driver c ame bac k up and said tha t thi s i s _the one , re f erri ng t o me. Someone yelled from t he crowd t hat ga t hered--he must be c ra zy •• he j us t s aid that wasn't the on e •• The pol i ce t ha t had held me aga inst t he car , yell ed see I t ol d you we had him, you let the othe r ge t away--he s aid t ha t r ema rk to the other policeman. They all drew their gun s an d th e n t hey snatche d me off of my porch. said the cab driver s a id the s uspect. had on red, I had no red. to resist ••• One person I was not trying· They shoved me into the car and so I asked them if I could close -~ ! �Page 2 ROBERT LEE BAYNLs._ my door, since I lived alone. the car. One of the police said, damn the door, get into I yelled out for someone to please close my door. moved on t o my porch, I guess he closed the door. All of the police were white. They drove down Auburn Ave., and Randolph Street. driver were already there. One of the officers Additional police and the cab The cab driver said he was robbed at Auburn and Irwin. They took me out of the patrol car and the n tri~sferred me to two Negro detective's car. The Negro detective questioned me further ••••• and turn off my lights, fan, TV and close my door. I asked again if I could go They said No I could not dp that and that it was time for them to get off and that they could see about that tomorrow. In the meantime, a call came on the police radio ,t,at the people that did the robbery were going out Dekalb Avenue in a red car •• So the police took off and started chasing down Dekalb Ave. with me in the car •• the Cab Driver joined the chase in his car. He was in Checker Cab, No. 97. They drove out Dekalb pass Mason Avenue, near Decatur City line and pulled into a filling station \. and called for Car No 87 to follow them back up to Decatur Street. When they got to Butler and Decatur Street they pointed to the Cab Driver to go up to the parking lot. They pulled into the Detectives parking area. jail and had me to sit on the bench for a while. They then carried me into the Then they ordered me into a room. .. In the room, I was asked about my place of birth and education and _height and weight. I was then fingerprinted.

After I was fingerprinted I was taken into a reception room to wai~ to be put in jail. I told the people in there (three white ,, qi . men and a white women) that ' I was a diabetic and that I had to eat every .four hours and they started laughing and jeering me along about now; I told them I need t o have a glass of milk. funny . They started to laugh, I told t~em it was n 1 t They ordered a wagon and said they would f end me to Grady. me not to try to · run or they would shot me. a nd they said nothing more . They t old - I t old them I had nothing t o ru n f or The Polic ewagon came and took me to Grady . They handcuffed me behind my back •• The doctors told them to bring me ba ck at 8 : 00 a.m. ,, · They t ook me back to my cell and then they t old me I could ma ke one call and that • that call must be to my lawyer, I called Cha rl es Longstreet Welt ne r and told him what hag happened. pointed on me. The jail attendant was standi ng there all the time with a gun Then·they put me in a cell •• At 8:30 a.m. I told the jail attendant that I was supposed to go to the hospital at 8:00 a.m. told me he coul d not do anything about that. The attendant I kept begging for assistance , .~ 1 ! �., page 3 ROBERT LEE BAYNES I could not stand up, unless I held onto the bars. came and took me to the doctor. Finally at 10:37 a.m. they It was ano t her 20 minutes before the doctors saw me because they kept me at the police room in t he hospital. in a heavily air conditioned room and I went into a chill. came and put blankets on me. a bed. Later the nurse ·'. ', • I The Doctor came in and told them t o put me into They gave me intravenal glucose until 3i00 p.m~ some orange juice. ., , They put me ' The nurse brought me The doctor told me to go back to jail and to eat right away, but not eat anything that I was not supposed to eat. · They brought me to the wrong floor at the jail, so I was able to use a telephone t hat .was located on that floor and I phoned the Community Relations Commission and spoke to Mrs. Paschall . It was late Monday afternoon before my appliances were turne~ off and they were turned o f f then because I called my mother and got her to turn t hem of f . . \. In t he meantime, I told them that the doctor had told me to eat ••• t he jail attendant said he didn't have any ~ ood and he could not help me. I kept asking and he started to cursing me out~ ••. I called Grady Hospital a nd told them t hem I wanted the emergency clinic and I tal~ed with the doctor and he told them about the s i tuation and the Doctor told hem (t he jail attendant) to ge t me back to Grady right away. When the attendan t f inish i d talking to the doctor, he told me I was pretty damn smart. give me some food right away~ I went back t o Grady and the doctor told t hem t o They took me back to the jail. sa i d that they didn't have any fool and sent me back to Grady. At t he ja il t hey The whi t e jai l • a tt endan t a sked me who in the hell I though t I was - --go i ng to Grady so muc h •• When I got to Grady again the Doctor told me t ha t I would die i f I di dn' t get some food . He gave me· a shot ••• They c a rried be back t o jail. I go t bac k, I went into a semi-coma . men wan ted t o s e e me . I t al ked with them . The n the y sen t me to th e cell. The y took me home . go to trial. Th e at t endant came an d told me t hat two The two men we re t he two Negro de tec t iv es who had brought me to be arrest e d at the s ta tion . of questio ns . 5hortel y after They a s ked me a series . In a f e w mi nut es t hey sent for me; Be f ore the y t oo k me home ~ hey as ked me if I wanted to go to I di dn' t kno w wh a t tria l th ey mean t an d I said no, unless I had to go. When they took me home it was about 10:30 p. m. Monday nig ht , I had had no food from Sunday afternoon until the time I wa s released ' ! �ROBERT LEE BAYNES Mr. Waltner went to the Police Station during the day, called and sent lawyers, was told Mr. Baynes was not there. ,·, / \. I I ': . 'I , -,. ,,·..:. · · ' . .. �