TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Violent DVD Stars Shooting Suspect

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEPHEN THOMPSON and MARK DOUGLAS, The Tampa Tribune News Channel 8

Published: October 13, 2007

CLEARWATER - A teenager involved in a fatal shooting Monday is also the co-host of a lewd and violent DVD containing one segment that a Clearwater police sergeant helped stage, according to authorities.

Allan Burney, 19, of 1749 Jade Ave., surrendered Thursday night to face charges he played a role in a shooting Monday that left a 23-year-old man dead and caused seven schools to be locked down.
Burney is the co-host of a DVD titled 'Da Hood Gone Wild,' a series of vignettes purportedly featuring life in North Greenwood, a poor, predominantly black neighborhood in the city.

In a copy of the hourlong-plus DVD loaned to News Channel 8, naked women gyrate to hip-hop music, two men in skeletal costumes fire guns and several nighttime street beatings are shown, including a few in which the victim is considerably outnumbered. The DVD contains profanity, racial epithets and street bravura.

In one staged, 22-second segment, Clearwater police Sgt. Joseph Tenbieg is seen directing Burney and the DVD's other co-host, Semieakeem C. Hearns, into the rear seat of a white, unmarked police car.

Before that, Burney and Hearns have their hands behind their backs, pretending to be handcuffed and red and blue flashes from emergency lights can be seen in the background, according to the results of a police investigation.
Burney thanks viewers for buying the DVD, at which point Tenbieg enters the scene in police uniform, says, 'Let's go guys, time to go,' and directs them into the rear seat of the unmarked car with its emergency lights activated. Tenbieg gets into the driver's seat and the scene ends as sirens are momentarily sounded, the report says.

Tenbieg later would tell detectives looking into the matter that, by participating in the video, he was trying to show a lighter side of law enforcement. He said he agreed after being asked to do so by his brother-in-law.

Tenbieg also said he didn't know it would be included with the other more salacious segments, he told investigators in a July 26 interview, according to the police investigation. He received no compensation.

Flash forward to Monday.

At 12:46 p.m., an argument between two groups of men broke out in a convenience store parking lot at North Betty Lane and Springdale Street, said Elizabeth Daly-Watts, Clearwater's public safety spokeswoman.

One group left in a gold Dodge Intrepid but members of the other group fired into the car, Daly-Watts said. The car crashed into a utility pole about a block and a half away. The driver, Michael Scott, 23, later died at Bayfront Medical Center, Daly-Watts said.

That evening, investigators arrested Gaylord Shaw, 19, of Clearwater, on a charge of first-degree murder in Scott's death. Later, Shaw was charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Burney surrendered Thursday and was charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder. Arrest affidavits say none of his bullets struck any of the occupants of the Intrepid. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on $400,000 bail.

The irony that a man co-hosting a DVD containing violence is now accused of several counts of attempted murder was not lost on Clearwater Police Chief Sid Klein.

'If you portray violence and you participate in it, I think it shows you are part of the problem,' Klein told News Channel 8.

Klein also took issue with the portrayal of the Greenwood area. It failed to show improvements to the area, including landscaping, a new recreation center and a new library.

'Sure we have violence up there and we have some of the things that are depicted, but I don't think you can brand a whole neighborhood just because of the actions that are shown on that video,' Klein said. 'So many things are going on to change the things that are portrayed in that video.'

He called Tenbieg's contribution unfortunate. Tenbieg was counseled about the matter.

'I think he's learned his lesson,' Klein said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com. Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-8443 or mdouglas@wfla.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT