MONTGOMERY, W.Va. -- Lakisha White doesn't understand why, after her husband called Montgomery police to their house because of a disagreement with some neighbors, it was he who was Maced.

Joey Carr knows he broke the law when he knocked over a pop machine, but he doesn't believe that gave Montgomery police the right to repeatedly spray him with Mace and leave him with eight stitches in his hairline and three staples in the back of his head.

Cheryl Terrell and her 17-year-old daughter say the teenager was walking down the street when a Montgomery officer pulled up in a police car and stopped her. Somehow, both women say the incident ended with the officer sticking his hands down her pants to get a ringing cell phone.

All three incidents have at least one thing in common, according to those involved: suspended Montgomery police Officer Matthew Leavitt.

Leavitt was suspended after being accused of beating Twan Reynolds on Sept. 26.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident. The FBI is also assisting in the investigation, said Jay Bartholomew, supervisory special agent with the FBI in Charleston.

Twan Reynolds and his wife, Lauren, accuse Patrolman Leavitt and Patrolman Shawn Hutchinson and of repeatedly hitting Twan Reynolds over the head with a blackjack, kicking him in the back and spraying his eyes with Mace at close range.

They filed a lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court last week.

They also say Leavitt repeatedly used a racial epithet against Twan Reynolds, who is black, and Lauren Reynolds accused Leavitt of licking her on the neck during an interrogation and saying, "Little whore, you like it like that."

The streets of Montgomery

On Sept. 29, 2007, Leavitt was called to the White home to break up a fight between Roderick White and another man, according to a criminal complaint filed on Lakisha White in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

In the complaint, Leavitt writes that Lakisha White was holding her husband back from attacking another man. Leavitt said he told Roderick White to calm down and stepped toward him.

"When I did so, [Lakisha White] stepped in front of me in an attempt to physically stop me from approaching her husband," Leavitt wrote in the complaint. "At that time [Roderick White] grew more violent, because I was forced to push the defendant out of my way."

Lakisha White said Leavitt jumped on her husband's back and Maced him when her husband turned his back on the officer. Lakisha White said she was Maced too, and that Leavitt grabbed her by the back of the neck, injuring her spine.

"He threatened to 'blow my fat black ass away,'" White said. "He said, 'Bitch, I own you. I own the streets of Montgomery.'"

When the two officers tried to take White into custody, Lakisha White grabbed Leavitt's Mace and used it on both officers, according to the complaint.

White says she never used the Mace.

Lakisha White was charged with two counts of assault on a police officer. Roderick White was charged with two counts of battery, obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct. His case has a hearing in front of Kanawha County Magistrate Tim Halloran on Oct. 30.

Leavitt said he was under the impression that Roderick White was under the influence of crack cocaine during the incident. A house near where the incident occurred is a known crack house, Leavitt said.

"The minimum force was applied to control the situation," he said.

White said there have been other incidents involving Leavitt. She said he again Maced her husband on March 3.

"We are not even allowed to stand on the sidewalk and talk. They don't let us," she said. "They never give a reason. It's a disruption, they say."

'I just want to get home'

Joey Carr got drunk at a party and asked for a ride home. When the West Virginia University Tech student couldn't find one, he decided to walk home from somewhere near David Hall (he didn't want to give the exact location).

Both Carr and police agree he ran into a pop machine and knocked it over.

"My friends were behind me and I got up the road a little bit," Carr said. "I get close to the Go Mart and go around the corner and a cop car stops me. He gets out and says, 'Did you knock over that pop machine?'"

According to a criminal complaint filed by Leavitt in Fayette County Magistrate Court, Carr knocked over a newspaper vending machine and a flower pot as well as a Pepsi vending machine. When approached by Leavitt, Carr was belligerent and profane, according to the complaint.

When Leavitt and another officer asked Carr to accompany them to the police car, he "became combative and physically attempted to pull away from officers," according to the complaint. Carr was eventually taken to the police station, where he was "sprayed in the facial area with an approved chemical aerosol agent" after he spit at the officers, according to the complaint.

He was charged with obstructing an officer, destruction of property, battery on an officer and underage consumption.

Carr said when Leavitt stopped him, he asked for a ride home. The officer told him he was going to be given tickets for public intoxication and underage consumption.

"I said, 'Well that's fine. I just want to get home. I'm pretty drunk,'" Carr said. "He goes to get out the tickets and instead he pulls out Mace and Maces me at close range. ... His knuckles were touching my forehead."

Joey Carr knows he broke the law when he knocked over a pop machine, but he doesn't believe that gave Montgomery police the right to repeatedly spray him with Mace and leave him with eight stitches in his hairline and three staples in the back of his head.

Cheryl Terrell and her 17-year-old daughter say the teenager was walking down the street when a Montgomery officer pulled up in a police car and stopped her. Somehow, both women say the incident ended with the officer sticking his hands down her pants to get a ringing cell phone.

All three incidents have at least one thing in common, according to those involved: suspended Montgomery police Officer Matthew Leavitt.

Leavitt was suspended after being accused of beating Twan Reynolds on Sept. 26.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident. The FBI is also assisting in the investigation, said Jay Bartholomew, supervisory special agent with the FBI in Charleston.

Twan Reynolds and his wife, Lauren, accuse Patrolman Leavitt and Patrolman Shawn Hutchinson and of repeatedly hitting Twan Reynolds over the head with a blackjack, kicking him in the back and spraying his eyes with Mace at close range.

They filed a lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court last week.

They also say Leavitt repeatedly used a racial epithet against Twan Reynolds, who is black, and Lauren Reynolds accused Leavitt of licking her on the neck during an interrogation and saying, "Little whore, you like it like that."

The streets of Montgomery

On Sept. 29, 2007, Leavitt was called to the White home to break up a fight between Roderick White and another man, according to a criminal complaint filed on Lakisha White in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

In the complaint, Leavitt writes that Lakisha White was holding her husband back from attacking another man. Leavitt said he told Roderick White to calm down and stepped toward him.

"When I did so, [Lakisha White] stepped in front of me in an attempt to physically stop me from approaching her husband," Leavitt wrote in the complaint. "At that time [Roderick White] grew more violent, because I was forced to push the defendant out of my way."

Lakisha White said Leavitt jumped on her husband's back and Maced him when her husband turned his back on the officer. Lakisha White said she was Maced too, and that Leavitt grabbed her by the back of the neck, injuring her spine.

"He threatened to 'blow my fat black ass away,'" White said. "He said, 'Bitch, I own you. I own the streets of Montgomery.'"

When the two officers tried to take White into custody, Lakisha White grabbed Leavitt's Mace and used it on both officers, according to the complaint.

White says she never used the Mace.

Lakisha White was charged with two counts of assault on a police officer. Roderick White was charged with two counts of battery, obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct. His case has a hearing in front of Kanawha County Magistrate Tim Halloran on Oct. 30.

Leavitt said he was under the impression that Roderick White was under the influence of crack cocaine during the incident. A house near where the incident occurred is a known crack house, Leavitt said.

"The minimum force was applied to control the situation," he said.

White said there have been other incidents involving Leavitt. She said he again Maced her husband on March 3.

"We are not even allowed to stand on the sidewalk and talk. They don't let us," she said. "They never give a reason. It's a disruption, they say."

'I just want to get home'

Joey Carr got drunk at a party and asked for a ride home. When the West Virginia University Tech student couldn't find one, he decided to walk home from somewhere near David Hall (he didn't want to give the exact location).

Both Carr and police agree he ran into a pop machine and knocked it over.

"My friends were behind me and I got up the road a little bit," Carr said. "I get close to the Go Mart and go around the corner and a cop car stops me. He gets out and says, 'Did you knock over that pop machine?'"

According to a criminal complaint filed by Leavitt in Fayette County Magistrate Court, Carr knocked over a newspaper vending machine and a flower pot as well as a Pepsi vending machine. When approached by Leavitt, Carr was belligerent and profane, according to the complaint.

When Leavitt and another officer asked Carr to accompany them to the police car, he "became combative and physically attempted to pull away from officers," according to the complaint. Carr was eventually taken to the police station, where he was "sprayed in the facial area with an approved chemical aerosol agent" after he spit at the officers, according to the complaint.

He was charged with obstructing an officer, destruction of property, battery on an officer and underage consumption.

Carr said when Leavitt stopped him, he asked for a ride home. The officer told him he was going to be given tickets for public intoxication and underage consumption.

"I said, 'Well that's fine. I just want to get home. I'm pretty drunk,'" Carr said. "He goes to get out the tickets and instead he pulls out Mace and Maces me at close range. ... His knuckles were touching my forehead."

Carr said he got scared and tried to run away.

"He grabs me and throws me down, kicks me in the stomach and Maces me again. Then he puts his knee in my throat and handcuffs me," Carr said. "When he handcuffs me, he throws me against the car and told me to 'Quit screaming like a little bitch.'"

Carr said he told Leavitt that he is a member of the National Guard 821st Engineering Battalion in Summersville.

"I told him I'm in the National Guard and he should not treat me like this," Carr said. "He tells me to shut ... up and puts me in the car. I was still screaming because of the Mace. He Maced me very much, a lot."

When they got to the Montgomery police station, Carr said Leavitt pulled him out of the car and Maced him again. Carr said he fell back in the car, kicking and screaming. He said he knocked loose a window from the car.

"I couldn't breathe. I thought I was fighting for my life," Carr said. "I thought I was dying."

Carr said Leavitt and another officer dragged him into booking.

Leavitt told Carr that he, too, was in the Army.

"I told him he wasn't worthy to fight for this country if he is going to treat another soldier like this," Carr said.

After that statement, Carr said the other officer struck him with a chair.

"I said they were going to jail for neglecting me," Carr said. "Then Leavitt said, 'You can't prove shit,' and hit me in the head with the nightstick."

They took him to Montgomery General Hospital, where Carr said he got eight stitches in his hairline from being struck by the chair and three staples in the back of his head from getting cut by the nightstick.

Leavitt said Carr came to the police station the next day and apologized.

"It takes a lot to do that," Leavitt said. "Me and Mr. Carr parted, in my opinion, in good ways. My opinion is he got drunk one night and Mr. Carr was afforded every opportunity to relax and chill out."

Run-in with a teenager

Sherkiri Terrell, 17, and her mother say that on Aug. 23 Sherkiri was walking down the street when Leavitt pulled his police car over and stopped her in her tracks.

Sherkiri said she had other run-ins with him before so she pulled out her cell phone and called her lawyer.

"He pushed my head against the wall and put my hand behind my back," she said. "He slammed my phone on the ground."

Sherkiri's mom, Cheryl Terrell, said Sherkiri got the phone and put it down her pants. In the struggle with Leavitt, he bent her over, she said. When the phone began to ring, Leavitt put his hand down her pants to get the cell phone, Terrell said.

Leavitt said he got the cell phone out of the girl's back pocket. He was responding to a call of a fight where Sherkiri Terrell was a suspect, he said.

"She is a constant nuisance," Leavitt said, adding that the girl had been in juvenile detention in the past.

Cheryl Terrell also said her daughter had been in a juvenile detention facility after run-ins with Leavitt.

She said such incidents of harassment have been going on for years.

There is a large criminal element in Montgomery, Leavitt said. And he admits that there are many in town who do not like him because he fights against that element. There are many, he says, who do like him and believe he does a good job.

"The local members of the criminal element, they hate me, they hate Officer Hutchinson," he said.

Leavitt said he is not a racist and that he did not use a racial epithet against Twan Reynolds and has not used it against anyone else.

Roderick and Lakisha White are black, as are Sherkiri and Cheryl Terrell. Joey Carr is white.

"Even if I was the biggest racist on earth, which I am not, that would seal my coffin as a police officer," Leavitt said. "I would not be stupid enough to utter that word while wearing a badge. ... That is just stupidity. But again, that is the first allegation I face if a suspect is black.

"I can't help the fact that I was born a white man. I don't care that I was born a white man. It just so happens that the majority of the criminals in Montgomery, due to demographics, are African-American. When I worked in Smithers, most were white."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 348-5163.