Asheville police captain fired amid allegations of harassment, ties to beating probe

ASHEVILLE - Police Chief Tammy Hooper has fired one of the department’s top commanders after issuing a blistering termination letter in which she said the captain created a toxic environment where officers worked in fear.

Hooper, in her five-page letter dated Tuesday, also tied the firing of Capt. Stony Gonce to the investigation of an Aug. 24 police beating of a pedestrian that sparked widespread community outrage.

Officer Chris Hickman resigned and was later charged with felony assault after video leaked to the Citizen Times showed him beating a black pedestrian suspected of jaywalking.

More:Asheville police officer in beating video arrested on assault, other charges

Gonce cautioned a lieutenant against being involved in a criminal investigation into Hickman’s use of force, Hooper said in the letter. Gonce served as the department's head of criminal investigations.

“According to the lieutenant, you attempted to convince him that his conducting the investigation would be detrimental to his career at APD and that he was being used as a 'scapegoat,'” she wrote.

Asheville city officials hired an independent investigator to examine claims against Gonce, a veteran with 20 years experience on the force.

Among accusations made to the investigator, according to Hooper’s letter, were that Gonce would lose control of his emotions, bullied officers and created an environment of fear.

“There is always this lingering over my head that he is looking for some way to get me out – get me fired, in trouble, disciplined, etc.,” a police employee told the investigator, according to Hooper’s letter.

Gonce could not be reached by phone or at his home. His attorney could not be reached.

More:Asheville Sgt. Lisa Taube to sue city over police beating statements, attorney says

More:City releases new information on officer involved in beating

Heroic act, shooting, cover-up allegation

Gonce, 43, was hired in 1998 and promoted to sergeant in 2005. He made the rank of lieutenant in 2010 and then captain in 2013. He holds a master's degree in management and leadership from Montreat College. At the time of his dismissal his salary was $89,581.

City personnel records show no demotions.

In 2007, Gonce and two other officers fired more than two dozen shots at a car and injured a passenger as they pursued the driver. No criminal charges were brought, and a civil jury said the officers acted without malice.

A year later, Gonce was given the Asheville-Buncombe Excellence in Public Service Award for an outstanding heroic act.

Another officer in 2013 alleged that Gonce and then-Chief William Anderson sought to coerce an officer into changing his report on an accident involving Anderson's son. Former city manager Gary Jackson ruled that the two were wrong to pull the officer, Lt. William Wilke, out of an interview but that they hadn't tried to coerce him.

'Multiple' complaints

In the termination letter, Hooper said that before March 2017, there were multiple complaints and two internal investigations that accused Gonce of "inappropriate behaviors, retaliation and/or coercion" of APD staff.

She cited him in November for sustained policy violations of insubordination and "conduct toward supervisors and subordinates." Gonce's discipline included a written warning.

The third-party human resources investigator was hired in December and found "clear evidence" of the city's workplace harassment policy, the chief said. In the letter, she listed what she called some of the more disturbing comments from employees.

"I live in fear of Gonce. Am I being followed? Am I being monitored?" one said, according to Hooper.

The investigator also found that Gonce provided contradictory answers and changed his story, she said, a violation of department and city policies on ethics, professionalism and integrity.

The chief called that charge "particularly worrisome given that you are a captain of APD and in charge of criminal investigations."

More: Asheville police beating victim: Officer accused me of lying

Police brutality investigation

After the Aug. 24 beating of a black pedestrian, Lt. Joe Silberman, who worked directly under Gonce in criminal investigations, was assigned Jan. 18 to conduct an investigation.

Gonce began interfering in the investigation soon after that, Hooper said, by directing Silberman to “write a memo he was clearly uncomfortable writing because he felt you were directing him to make statements that were not true.”

Hooper said she based that charge on a written statement from the lieutenant. Gonce at one point told the lieutenant he was issuing him a direct order to write the memo, she said.

Hooper does not say what information the memo was supposed to contain.

Gonce criticized the investigation during a Jan. 25 discussion with Deputy Chief Wade Wood, saying APD should not be doing a criminal investigation of its own officer, Hooper said.

He also complained that he had not been notified Silberman would be doing the investigation.

Hooper said Gonce failed to show that Silberman had personal conflicts that would keep him from being able to do the investigation. And such concerns didn't justify Gonce's other actions involving the investigation, she said.

The State Bureau of Investigation was asked in January to do the investigation, but the SBI deferred, saying police waited too long to make the request and that the five-month gap would make it too difficult.

District Attorney Todd Williams said he opposed APD conducting the investigation and asked the SBI director to reconsider but was told the agency could not help because it was assisting the FBI in a federal investigation into the beating.

Residents and City Council members criticized police handling of the incident, saying they were outraged they didn’t learn about it until six months after the fact through a body cam video leaked to the Citizen Times.

They also said a criminal investigation should have been started immediately instead of waiting for the outcome of an administrative investigation into whether Hickman should be fired.

In the aftermath of the video’s release, Hooper has announced a new policy in which criminal investigations into officer actions would be started immediately.

Suspension, leaker?

The statement from Silberman about Gonce’s actions came to the chief in the form of a memo dated Feb. 27, Hooper said. That was followed on Feb. 28 by Citizen Times publication of the video.

Gonce was put on investigative suspension two days later, on March 2. City officials declined to talk about why he was suspended, saying state personnel law forbids the release of such information.

At one point, former council candidate and racial justice activist Dee Williams said Gonce was the one who leaked the video and praised him as “educated, kind“ and “resourceful.” Williams made those statements at a March 13 council meeting where residents expressed outrage about the beating.

On Wednesday, Williams, a former local NAACP official, said she didn’t know for a fact that Gonce had supplied the body cam footage but said she has worked with him for at least six months on “21st century” policing methods, coming up with ideas on how to improve the department’s relationship with black residents.

Before and just after the release of the video, Williams said she received calls from someone who didn’t identify himself but who she assumed was Gonce. Williams said she has not gotten a call from that person in more than a month.

As for the charges made in the termination letter, Williams said, "I didn't see that in Stony Gonce."

"He came across as a very good person. And a caring person," she said.

After learning of the leak, Hooper and Todd Williams said there should be an investigation into who gave it to the Citizen Times. But that should not be conducted by the APD, the district attorney said.

Police officials didn't respond Wednesday as to whether there was an investigation underway.

Reporters John Boyle and Jennifer Bowman contributed to this story.

Here is the letter from Chief Tammy Hooper terminating Stony Gonce. The document was obtained by the Citizen Times through a public records request.