CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two Montgomery police officers accused of beating a black man outside a 7-Eleven in September allegedly kept a file on 15 men in town solely because they were black, according to a motion filed in Kanawha Circuit Court on Monday.

But Montgomery Police Chief Pete Lopez says the list was made in order to find three men involved in a June robbery that resulted in a Montgomery officer being shot.

Officers Matthew Leavitt and Shawn Hutchinson allegedly "would approach African-Americans and require them to pose for photographs for the purpose of detailing their profiling computer data," according to the motion filed by Mike Clifford, an attorney for Twan Reynolds.

The motion requests access to the hard drive of the sole computer in the Montgomery Police Department, where the photos were stored.

Montgomery police have said a virus wiped out the computer's memory, according to both Lopez and Clifford.

Clifford said a former Montgomery police officer provided a paper copy of the list of black men to him. Clifford would not name the former officer because that officer "has pending litigation and it would be adverse to that."

Reynolds and his wife, Lauren, say Leavitt and Hutchinson hit Reynolds in the head with a blackjack, kicked him in the back and sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray at close range following a traffic stop at the 7-Eleven in Montgomery on Sept. 26.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Department is investigating, and FBI officials have said they are assisting in the investigation.

In December, Montgomery Lt. J.D. Burrow said Leavitt and former Montgomery Patrolman Shawn Hutchinson threatened to arrest him when he tried to stop them from attacking Twan Reynolds.

Burrow, who is black, also said that race - Twan Reynolds is black and his wife is white - played a role in the alleged beating.

"We filed a suit alleging that Twan Reynolds in particular was beaten solely because he is a black man with a white wife, that was the basis of the suit and that it was a hate crime," Clifford said. "And the fact that racial profiling was going on corroborates that."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two Montgomery police officers accused of beating a black man outside a 7-Eleven in September allegedly kept a file on 15 men in town solely because they were black, according to a motion filed in Kanawha Circuit Court on Monday.

But Montgomery Police Chief Pete Lopez says the list was made in order to find three men involved in a June robbery that resulted in a Montgomery officer being shot.

Officers Matthew Leavitt and Shawn Hutchinson allegedly "would approach African-Americans and require them to pose for photographs for the purpose of detailing their profiling computer data," according to the motion filed by Mike Clifford, an attorney for Twan Reynolds.

The motion requests access to the hard drive of the sole computer in the Montgomery Police Department, where the photos were stored.

Montgomery police have said a virus wiped out the computer's memory, according to both Lopez and Clifford.

Clifford said a former Montgomery police officer provided a paper copy of the list of black men to him. Clifford would not name the former officer because that officer "has pending litigation and it would be adverse to that."

Reynolds and his wife, Lauren, say Leavitt and Hutchinson hit Reynolds in the head with a blackjack, kicked him in the back and sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray at close range following a traffic stop at the 7-Eleven in Montgomery on Sept. 26.

The Fayette County Sheriff's Department is investigating, and FBI officials have said they are assisting in the investigation.

In December, Montgomery Lt. J.D. Burrow said Leavitt and former Montgomery Patrolman Shawn Hutchinson threatened to arrest him when he tried to stop them from attacking Twan Reynolds.

Burrow, who is black, also said that race - Twan Reynolds is black and his wife is white - played a role in the alleged beating.

"We filed a suit alleging that Twan Reynolds in particular was beaten solely because he is a black man with a white wife, that was the basis of the suit and that it was a hate crime," Clifford said. "And the fact that racial profiling was going on corroborates that."

But Lopez said his officers weren't targeting black men, and the list and photographs were made as a part of a search for three black men involved in shooting one of his officers.

In June, three black men robbed another black man and Montgomery officers responded to the call, Lopez said.

One of the officers, Shannon Morris, was chasing a suspect when the man turned and shot him point-blank in the chest, Lopez said. The bullet hit Morris' bulletproof vest and he was OK, Lopez said.

"There were three subjects involved. We were able to catch one hiding under a porch," he said. "Then as a result of the photo lineups, we identified a second one. The third subject is still at large.

"Those photos were taken by one of our guys or the other, either as they were arrested or just for the lineup. We were able to compile pictures to get these guys identified."

Lopez said he has no reason to believe that Twan Reynolds was targeted because he is black.

"It has nothing to do with race," he said. "As a result of [the Reynolds arrest] kind of going haywire, I think a whole lot of elements fit into that."

Lopez said Leavitt and Hutchinson saw Reynolds speed by in his car on Sept. 26, and that's why they stopped him.

"I don't think they knew or suspected the color of the people in the car," he said.

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.