GCHS principal, stepson give their accounts of altercation

Hurl Beechum III described the scene unfolding before his eyes as “unthinkable.”

His stepfather, Glenwood Community High School Principal Richard Hutchinson, sprawled unconscious on the ground being beaten, he said, by a pair of men who had verbally sparred with the principal over the use of a racial slur just minutes before.

Beechum, 42, attempted to intercede in the melee before retreating into Hutchinson’s home and returning with his handgun.

“When I initially got in the house to retrieve the gun the only thought I had was, ‘If they are attacking me they are probably attacking my stepfather,’’’ said Beechum, who is licensed to conceal-carry a handgun. “So, my initial reaction was to go out there and see if he needs help. Arriving back out there, the scene was unthinkable.”
After confronting Colton McDaniel, 21, and Denver Cook, 19, who Beechum and his attorney said continued to beat his stepfather after he was unconscious on the ground convulsing, he told both assailants to stop and step back. Both refused and Beechum discharged the gun, hitting McDaniel in the leg.

Beechum recounted his side of the events that led to the Sept. 27 incident and subsequent shooting of McDaniel at a press conference last Wednesday. Present at the press conference were Beechum, his mother Randi Hutchinson and his stepfather, along with Glenwood attorney DeShawne Bird-Sell.

Beechum was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, willful injury and going armed with intent in addition to two additional misdemeanor counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon for his actions that day. Those charges were dropped by Mills County Attorney Tricia McSorley last Monday. His trial had been set to begin Wednesday.

Charges against Cook and McDaniel were dropped Jan. 14. McDaniel had faced charges of assault causing bodily injury, a misdemeanor. Cook faced a charge of willful injury, a felony, and a misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury.

The Sept. 27 incident on Third Street has been a source of controversy and mystery in the Glenwood community for months, bringing questions of what prompted the altercations that led to the shooting. What is known, according to affidavits filed in Mills County District Court, is McDaniel, Cook, another adult male and three juvenile females were walking south on North Myrtle Street near Hutchinson’s home when one of the juveniles used a racial slur while talking on her cell phone. Hutchinson, who is black, confronted the group. A verbal argument then escalated into a violent confrontation.
Bird-Sell opened last week’s press conference by reading a prepared statement that presented Beechum and Hutchinson’s side of the events that led up to the shooting. The attorney’s comments paint a picture of an incident that was a racially-motivated altercation leading to a violent conclusion and suggests Beechum’s actions were a justified response.

“The biggest problem of this case is the lack of attention the assailants’ racial aggression was given,” Bird-Sell said in the statement. “Both Hutch and Mr. Beechum have had their livelihood and their lives threatened by a group of assailants motivated by hate.”

Comments by Bird-Sell and Beechum at the press conference appear to contradict the DCI affidavits that led to the original charges against her client and McSorley’s comments following the dropping of charges last week.

The investigative reports indicate that “McDaniel was squatting over Hutchinson”  and “Hutchinson was lying motionless in the street and the fighting had stopped.” But in their comments last week, Beechum and his attorney said both McDaniel and Cook continued to assault Hutchinson even after he was unconscious in the street.

“My mother was the only one giving aid,” Beechum said.
In the Jan. 18 press release indicating all charges were being dropped against Beechum, McDaniel and Cook, McSorley’s office appeared to concede Beechum’s actions didn’t rise to the charges leveled in September. The release went on to say, when Beechum “returned to the scene of the physical altercation…at that time Richard Hutchinson was lying on the ground surrounded by other parties involved. It is reasonable to believe that Mr. Beechum acted with justification at that time.”

McSorley said her office did more than a dozen depositions as part of the prosecution’s discovery process and it was only after conducting those interviews that her office decided to drop the charges. She declined to specifically discuss what Beechum’s attorney stated he saw upon returning to the scene with the gun.

“That was what he perceived,” McSorley said. “Other than that, I can’t comment. Accounts differed by who you talked to but I do believe that is what he perceived, therefore the defense of others claim makes sense.”

Bird-Sell said neither Beechum, Richard Hutchinson nor his wife, made formal statements to investigators prior to charges being filed or since the charges were dropped. Wednesday was the first time her clients have shared their side of the story, Bird-Sell said.

“The dismissal of the charges, I believe, were done without the benefit of knowing the other side of this,” Bird-Sell said. “In some instances that is the bad part about the justice system. Their cases are preceding to trial in the same track as my clients so it’s important on our side of the camp that we maintained our silence until the charges were completed. The county attorney had to do everything she did based on the information that was given at the time.

Basically, no information is what was given from our camp.”
McSorley refutes Bird-Sell’s claim Richard Hutchinson and Randi Hutchinson did not make statements to investigators. McSorley said both Beechum and Hutchinson gave recorded statements to investigators the night of the shooting.

“They gave lengthy statements,” the county attorney said.
When asked why Bird-Sell would say in last week’s press conference that neither Beechum nor Hutchinson gave statements as part of the investigation, McSorley replied, “I don’t know why they would say that.”

“We did interviews and everyone was provided those interviews,” McSorley said. “The attorneys received both the (audio) recordings and the transcripts of those conversations.”

A message left seeking comment from Bird-Sell was not immediately returned.

McSorley did confirm neither Beechum nor Hutchinson were made available to investigators following the initial interviews the night of the incident, under the advice of their attorney.

McSorley had little to say on whether information Beechum or Hutchinson might have provided investigators could have proved instrumental in the cases against both Cook or McDaniel.

“I think any time we can have interviews with any parties involved it can aid,” McSorley said. “I guess I can’t say either way for sure.”
McSorley went on to say Beechum and Hutchinson were the only individuals present the day of the incident that declined further interview requests from law enforcement.

“Everyone else was deposed,” she said. “We did not subpoena Mr. Hutchinson. Mr. Beechum, the defendant, did not wish to be deposed.”

McSorley declined to answer why she did not subpoena Hutchinson as a potential witness.

“I don’t think I’m going to comment on that. It was a decisions as an office in this prosecution.”

Randi Hutchinson did give a deposition, said McSorley.

At last week’s press conference, Bird-Sell also indicated the racial slur that drew Hutchinson’s attention was uttered three times before he intervened in what she called the principal’s attempt at a “teaching moment.”

Hutchinson was adamant he did not instigate the dispute.

“It was very clear, the racial slur they were using,” Hutchinson said he heard while he and his wife were clearing out their car that September afternoon. “When I approached them I did not approach them in any type of mean way. I work with young adults every day in my career. I approach young adults every day in my career. There was nothing threatening about how I approached them. Now, it’s just not OK (to use the slur). It was something I didn’t feel like I had to sit in my driveway and be subject to.”

McSorley denied the allegation her office did not seriously consider the racial component as part of the investigation. Prior to filing charges her office, along with local enforcement and the DCI, consulted the U.S. Attorney’s Office to inquire if the incident qualified as a hate crime.

“It did factor,” she said. “We took all the information we had available to make decisions both charging and dispositions. There are specific criteria necessary to charge something as a hate crime. It (hate crime) was not charged because we did not believe the evidence we had met that criteria.”

James Martin Davis, the attorney of record for McDaniel, did not return messages seeking comment. But in an interview with an Omaha television station the Omaha attorney did say, “The whole racial issue just has been inflated by the defense. It’s never been a part of the investigation. It was never part of the prosecution. It was only incidental of what happened.”

Beechum, who lives in Queen Creek, Ariz., said he has “mixed feelings” about the last three months of charges hanging over his head and those charges eventually being dropped.

“For the last 90 days, I’ve been perceived as a criminal,” Beechum said. “That’s probably the biggest travesty in this whole thing as far as I’m concerned. They paint a picture of you as being a criminal when you justifiably protect yourself and your family. That’s tough for me. The inaccuracies that are printed in the paper, and I know there was nothing coming from our camp, which was intentional, is a tough pill to swallow. But tomorrow is a new day. You wake up and keep moving. That’s what I’ll do.”

Hutchinson, who suffered a fractured eye socket in the incident, said he was relieved to see the matter finally put to rest – for his family and the Glenwood community.

“I can tell you the community has supported my family throughout this whole thing,” Hutchinson said. “I don’t know to say if the community has healed, I can’t speak for the whole community. I just know the support they have shown me and my family.”