Locals injured in incident on Black River
Aug 19, 2009 - 11:36:59 CDT
A formal complaint was filed with Reynolds County Sheriff Tom Volner during a meeting of the Reynolds County Commission last week. County residents Emmett Massie and Junior Flowers delivered the complaint regarding an incident which happened the week before, and resulted in serious injuries to several Farmington residents.

Massie and Flowers were concerned because no arrests were made following an attack on four campers at Riversedge Campground near Lesterville. Massie manages the campground for Flowers.

According to Massie, five canoes with two passengers each floated down near the Riversedge Campground. The campground, with over 100 campsites, is located on the banks of Black River. Many campsites are right on the beach front. The five canoes stopped in front of a campsite. Another group of five canoes approached and the passengers began shouting accusations that one canoe group had stolen beer from the other group. A loud argument ensued, according to Massie, and the disturbance became volatile as the accusations grew louder between the two groups.

“One of the Riversedge campers, Phil Wilmore, (of the Farmington area) requested for the people in the canoes to take their argument away from the campsite,” Massie said. “Phil told the canoeists that he was down here to have a good time and to enjoy the river and that he would appreciate it if they would take their argument on downstream. He made the request in a very polite manner. Phil is a pharmacist at Walgreen’s in Farmington. He’s not really an outdoor type of person and just comes down to camp and to enjoy the river. His request received a horrible response. All of the canoeists jumped from their canoes and began to drag campers off the bank and into the water.”

A 911 call was made from Riversedge to the emergency communication center around 4:30 p.m., according to Massie. “No law enforcement showed up at Riversedge until after 8 p.m.,” he said. “All of the suspects were questioned and were allowed to go on their way at least one hour before the deputies came to interview the victims. By the time an officer came to question the victims, the attackers had already been questioned and had been sent on about their business.”

Four campers were injured in the attack. Wilmore, according to Massie, was dragged off the bank and was held under water by his attacker. Wilmore’s wife, Dee, jumped on the attacker’s back and began scratching and clawing the eyes and face of the attacker until he let her husband go. “That person should have been easily identifiable,” Massie said. “He had scratches all over his face and eyes.”

“I was up in the campground when this all started,” Massie said. “As soon as I heard what was happening I went down there, picked up a boat paddle, and hit a canoeist who was holding a camper’s head under the water. I just kept swinging until he let the camper go,” Massie said.

“Then five of them attacked me. We were all fighting for our lives. It was a terrible brawl and the people who were being attacked were helpless in a lot of ways. I couldn’t just stand there and not do anything. One of the victims suffered a stroke in February and is still recuperating. Another camper who was attacked is a 66-year-old who has a bad leg and can barely get around. His face was beaten until his dentures splintered into a million pieces. I knew I had to do something to try to help them. They were trying to kill us,” Massie told the commission.

“I was never so disappointed in my life,” Massie said. “When I heard that nobody was even detained for questioning, it was like a death blow to me. What does someone have to do to get the attention of law enforcement? I told the sheriff that if something wasn’t done, the Black River would become the Red River.”

Noel Mason Jr. told the Reynolds County Courier that he witnessed the entire incident.

“I was there from the beginning of the ruckus,” Mason said. “I go down there a lot. I love it down there. Emmett takes real good care of the campground and everybody likes him. The two groups of canoeists had gotten into it with each other back up the river. One group had come down to the campsite and was sitting there when they were confronted by the other group. I heard one guy accuse the other one of knocking a beer out of his girlfriend’s hand. There were accusations of stealing. When the canoeists began hollering and screaming at each other, I told my buddy that we had better get our shoes on because there was going to be trouble.” Mason said.

“When the canoeists were asked to take the argument on down the river, they came out ready for a fight,” he said.

Mason said when he saw one of the canoeists put Reggie Barton in a headlock, he ran to tell Emmett Massie there was trouble going on at the river.

“Emmett beat me back down there,” Mason said. “When I got there it was already just one big brawl. I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to put a stop to the whole thing. I work at a prison and it could cost me my job if I get into fights. I was doing my best to calm everybody down, playing the mediator, separating fighters and telling everybody to chill out. I didn’t want to fight. Then I saw one of the canoeists hit Everett Boyd, a man in his sixties, three times right in the face. Blood went everywhere, and I saw red. I couldn’t stand to see that happening to Everett. I’m not going to stand and watch some young punk beat up on an old man. I walked up behind the kid, he was still punching Everett, turned him around and hit him right in the face as hard as I could.

“Then it seemed like everybody jumped me,” said Mason. “I ended up with cracked ribs, and will have to be off from work for a week. When the gunshots were fired into the air, I had been knocked to my knees and was getting my ribs kicked in. I was needing help. Emmett and I were fighting a one-sided battle. There was way more of them than us. Emmett was lying on his side in the water after being bashed with rocks by about five of them. I helped him up out of the water. Those gunshots saved us.”

Mason went to Bearcat Resort in an attempt to identify the attackers. “There they were sitting on tailgates, trying to act like everything was fine,” Mason said. “I recognized every one of them. One of my buddies came up and told me that whoever had fired the shots was going to be arrested, and that if I knew who had done it, I had better leave. I wasn’t going to leave until I had identified the attackers. Besides, I didn’t fire the gun. I was told to leave or I would be arrested.”

“I left, but I was mad. I wanted to look those guys in the face and identify them,” stated Mason. “I heard that another person who had said she could identify the attackers had backed down because of being a little bit scared, but I wanted to identify them. I am not afraid to identify them. They did a terrible thing and they need to pay for it,” Mason said.

Mason said he had a long conversation with the sheriff on Tuesday morning. “I don’t blame the sheriff or the deputies,” he said. “It was a brawl, and there were so many stories going around. Tom (Volner) said the investigation is still going on and that he will get to the bottom of it. I hope he does. We don’t want people thinking they can come in here and do this and get away with it.”

Ed Stewart, security officer for Riversedge, said, “Emmett Massie was held under water by three guys while another two kept bashing his head with big rocks. They would have killed him if someone on the bank had not fired two gunshots in the air.”

Stewart said he arrived near the end of the incident. “I heard that the sheriff was interviewing possible suspects up at Bearcat Resort. I was shocked to learn that there were no tickets issued, no arrests made, and that nobody was even brought in to the sheriff’s office for questioning. Every one of them should have been loaded up and brought in for questioning, in my opinion.”

Volner told the Courier he was unaware that anyone could identify the attackers. “I arrived in the middle of the incident,” Volner said. “I had no positive identification. I was unaware that the victims had not been interviewed. I can’t arrest somebody without evidence that backs it up.”

The sheriff said he could not answer the Courier’s question of why deputies did not respond to the location of the 911 call.

“You are asking me questions that I don’t have the answers to right now,” Volner said. “But these questions are the same ones I will be checking into further.”


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Reader Comments (4)
The comments below are from readers and do not represent the views of the Daily Journal
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mick7 posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
31/2 hours to answer a 911 call? How log does it take to answer a non-911 call, then? Then, when the officials do arrive they interviewed(?) suspects(?) and left? It sounds like the law enforcement of that County needs investigated. Horrible, shameful and very unprofessional. A week later and still no arrests made, even with witness' ready to come forward. I feel a lot of people will NOT go there after reading about this. I am not one of them.
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daisymay posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
It sounds like to me that the one's doing the beating must have known the the law enforcements or someone else. This is "CRAZY" anyone else would be arrested or charged with assault. They need to find out who all is involved and bring it to justice because they are all guilty, this sounds like a plan for a inside job. TERRIBLE I say another failed system. You never know this could be You or should I say who do YOU know!
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rencher posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I hope everyone has a full recovery.
and the guilty parties are arrested.
I cant imagine being put in that situation.
Sounds like the armed citizen was the hero.
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WakeUpPeople posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 9:44 am
Let this be a lesson to everyone's right to carry a concealed weapon(with permit). The comment of being arrested for firing the shot in the air is Crazy!

I think under the circumstances he could have been justified to shoot AT the idiot who was beating the guy with the rock and holding him under water.

Hopefully the Police will do what they should have done that day and ARREST these CRIMINALS.
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Locals injured in incident on Black River
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makes you wonder what we are paying so much money to the sheriffs for . I would like to hear from the cops what they think they are being paid for . we could do a better job with out them .

Maybe the problem is the young people that have no respect for humanity much less themselves. The cops can't be everywhere all the time.

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they didn't even rush when called . the kids were trying to kill some old people they had one down with 3 young folks holding his head under water and beating his head with a rock . when the cops showed up they talked to young kids and never arrested any one nor have they arrested any one since . the old guys all over 65 said they would prosacute . but NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE . WHAT WRONG WITH THEM WERE THEY RELATED TO CRIMINALS OR WHAT ? we can take care of our selfs if we get rid of the cops . so what good are they ? all they are is a waste of tax money . the part of the state i grew up in if we complained about the cops not doing anything they would start giveing out lots of bull sh-t tickets . The young kids were all over 21 . It comes from years and years of sitting in the station house doing nothing .

My gawd...what the hell is wrong with people