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Why Does Allen Run?Fear and mistrust, says escapee’s momBy GARY MEYER Times-News Staff WriterWhat makes Allen Blye run?lie is afraid and mistrustful, suggests the mother of the 23-year-old Kingsport man, who has been on the lam since escaping frnm Sullivan County deputies Monday.He’s fearful of law enforcement, officers to the extent that he has been known to flee from the mere sight of one even though he was doing nothing wrong, she says.He’s mistrustful because he feels he has been mistreated at times hy police or singled out by them or others for punishment.Rlye’s parents, Marshall and Janie Goodwin of 316 Dunbar SI,, dn not condone his actions, which have produced several brushes with the law.But they want some understanding for their son, particularly in Light of the recent publicity caused by his escape Monday, which came on the heels of another escape and the filing of several charges against Blye.“He's my son and I know he’s running and T know he's wrong. But there’s a lot the public nut. there don't know said Mrs. Goodwin.Primarily what she and her husband want people to know about is Blye’s accounts of how he has been treated in jail.In a letter sent to his attorney, the county criminal court judge and his mother, Blye charged that he was injured in an incident about three months ago at the Sullivan County jail.He alleges one jailer pushed him into a fight with a man known to hale blacks, that the jailer failed to break up the fight and that he subsequently was refused medical attention.This is how Blye claims the even Is unfolded:A disturbance was being created by somn inmates angry because guards were slow in bringing their mail. Blye was sweeping out his cell at the time, preparing to start a card game.Blye and another inmate were made to come out of their cells and taken to another cell.The two were placed with just all white guys, Including one prisoner who had been sentenced to life in prison and is known, not to like blacks.The white Inmate called Blye “nigger and soon, as Blye was attempting to get out of the cell, a fist fight erupted.Another inmate “jumped into the fight. Blye tried to run out the door, where four guards wore standing, and in the process fell and hit his back against a table.One jailer, who Blye says wanted him in the cell in the first place, pushed him back into the cell. But another guard interceded, and Blye was taken to yet another cell.His attempts to see a doctor for his back were not met with success, andw:MMAllen Blye alleges that he was mistreated. at Sullivan County Jail.Blye wants an investigation to have Fields fired.Fields has a mostly different view on what happened that day.I wouldn’t call it a fight, the jailer said.Fields said he was told by jail trustees that Blye was involed in the initial disturbance, and therefore decided the inmate should be moved to a different cell.He wasn't aware of the life-termer’s racist, feelings, hut adds, “Anyhow, I soon found out pretty quick they were not going to get along.After the two inmales exchanged a littfe lick or two/’ he quickly gut Blye out and into another cell,The rapid pace of events may have caught Fields holding the door shut, he admitted. I didn't know what was cooking, he said. “It all happened so quick.He said the one inmate involved in the scrape may have suffered a cut under his eye, hut added, “I don’t think Blye got hurt at all.”Fields described the event as a minor thing and said it occurred during a period when Blye was a harri-to-handlc prisoner who “had a chip on his shoulder/'Since that time, particularly during his most recent stay in the jail, Blye has seemed to mellow, he said. “I've gotten along with him, I mean real well, Fields said of Blye's changed attitude.Among many other officers. Blye is knnwn as a conniving man with a propensity to get in trouble. But according to his parents, there are other policemen who think well of Blye.Mrs. Goodwin notes that Blye has never been charged with a serious offense. He is not dangerous, she says.But she is afraid, that as an escapee, Blye could run Into serious trouble. *T feel like if someone knew what they were doing to him, he might come back/’ she said.Her son was about to undergo treatment at an area mental hospital befnrr the latest series of events began, Mrs. Goodwin said.She has not eaten in the three days since Blye’s escape, she said.He briefly came to the house after ho fled, she revealed, but was gone without any word where he was going.“We told him to go back/’ she said.Blye was still al largo late Thursday night
Newspaper Details
Kingsport News
Kingsport, Tennessee, US
Fri, Jul 22, 1977
Page 17
Full Page
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Kingsport P.
TN, USA 20 Jul 2021
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