Somehow, Detroit just can't get past the Kwame Kilpatrick soap opera.
For the past several years, there has always been a running street-level rumor in Detroit about a wild stripper party at the mayoral mansion where then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick received a lap dance, but to his surprised chagrin, the then-First Lady, his wife Carlita, walks in and catches the antics in full swing, and commences to issue a beatdown to said stripper.
But it was the beginning of a murder and legal drama worthy of an MSNBC crime show.
Over the years, dozens of different types of rumors have swirled as to what happened. They included allegations of cover-ups, corruption, denial, and strong-arming that wound up defining the tenure of the disgraced Detroit mayor, who is now serving time in federal custody for violating his parole.
But nobody ever knew if the 2002 brawl really ever took place, or if it was one of the many indiscernible things being said about the mayor at the time. What is known is that the stripper in question, Tamara "Strawberry" Greene, is dead -- murdered in a drive-by shooting months after she was linked to the rumored party -- adding to the speculation about what, if anything, really happened.
Now, a second stripper has come out to describe what she says happened in her deposition which is part of a lawsuit from Greene's family accusing Detroit and Kilpatrick of covering up details in the woman's death, the Detroit News reported. The dancer, Tamika Ruffin,testified she was offered $1,000 to perform at the marijuana and cocaine-fueled party, which was attended by Kilpatrick, his friends and about 10 police officers.
She says the ex-First Lady busted into the party and a fist fight between her and Greene ensued, which ended in the stripper taking a table leg to the dome. Later on, Ruffin said the former mayor's wife persisted in threatening her by cellphone. A few months later, she turns up dead. However, the city has always maintained she was killed in a drug shooting and the Michigan Attorney General has determined it is just urban legend.
Meanwhile, Kilpatrick's lawyer says Ruffin's story doesn't add up, that her dates are mixed up and that she probably couldn't tell the story straight if she tried because of a major head injury sustained in a car accident.
Okay, listen we're not here to spin this story any further than it has already gone. And we're not saying whether or not it's true. But sexual cover-ups like this one, the one involving ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer when he got caught soliciting an escort service, the one involving Congressional intern Chandra Levy and Rep. Gary Condit, and the most famous of all, between President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky all make great fodder for late night comedians and bloggers.
But they do not make sustaining foundations, especially for legal cases that have already torn up a city that is trying to recover from a disgraced mayor being taken from office, a poor economy and educational system and probably the worst publicity a city could get: No. 3 on the list of Most Dangerous American Cities.
More of this story is being played up in the local Detroit press than either side of the lawsuit should be comfortable with. Not that it isn't news, particularly in light of everything that has transpired over the past three years, but it should be prevented from becoming the media circus that the mayor's downfall had become.
Detroit simply can't afford one more black eye.