Police Bias Hearing Delayed

The city agency investigating charges of harassment filed by two Black students against the Cambridge police will not be able to hold a hearing on the case until after Commencement, an agency official said yesterday.

In March, Andre L. Williams '89 and Craig A. Cochrane '91 were ordered off a University Shuttle bus and searched by police officers seeking a suspect in a nearby shoplifting. The students filed a complaint over their treatment after they learned that the police were looking for a tall white male and were twice given a description that does not match either student before removing the two from the vehicle.

The Police Review and Advisory Board had hoped to hold a hearing before student witnesses leave Cambridge for the summer and Williams graduates, said William R. Golon, the executive director and chief investigator of the board.

Golon said that he had issued subpoenas to nine police officers involved in the incident and would take statements from them during the next week.

But he said that the board's schedule made it unlikely that it would be able to discuss the case before students leave for the summer. Several of the nine civilian witnesses with whom Golon has spoken live out of state, he said.

Williams said yesterday that he would prefer to hold a hearing at the end of June, rather than during the fall. Because the bus driver, Geoffrey J. McQuilken '91, will be in Cambridge over the summer, Williams said he believed there would be enough evidence to prove his side of the case.

"[McQuilken's] a primary witness because he was right there," Williams said. "He saw everything that happenned."

Golon said that if a hearing is held over the summer, he will probably rely on taped statements from eyewitnesses who are unable to attend. But he said this method could significantly weaken the case.

"Sometimes that's challenged because people claim that they want to confront the witnesses and ask them questions, and that doesn't allow them to do that," said Golon.