At one point, according to Spencer, Vick became upset and said that he didn't steal the watch. "What the [expletive] are you going to do, charge me with it?" Vick said, according to Spencer.
Spencer said it became clear to him that Vick would not be returning the watch that day. Spencer said he then told Hannah that he wanted to file charges. Spencer said Hannah opened a screen on his computer and began to type but said he would not put a case number on the police report. "Hannah said as long as there was no case number on it, it didn't exist," Spencer said. "It [the police investigation] was stalled to protect Vick's reputation."
Alvin Spencer, a security screener at Atlanta's international airport, with his watch, which went missing for six days in October. The watch came into the possession of Michael Vick.
(Photos Erik S. Lesser For The Washington Post)
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The meeting, which had lasted more than four hours, according to Spencer, broke without a resolution.
Spencer indicated he was leaving to see his doctor, according to Hannah.
"The anxiety and the frustration hit me," Spencer said. "I knew I needed to get out of there. Whatever they were doing wasn't in my favor, and I needed to get out of there. I couldn't trust them anymore."
Spencer, who told internal affairs he has received medical treatment for anxiety for several years, said he did not return to work for several days because he did not want to face Hannah again.
Hannah said that Johnson got the watch back from Vick on Oct. 13 and gave it to Hannah the same day. Hannah said he kept an inventory report of the watch, along with the watch itself, locked in his desk until returning the watch to Spencer on Oct. 18, after several days of leaving messages for him but being unable to reach him.
All parties agree that Spencer did not receive any financial compensation.
The Falcons declined to comment on Johnson's handling of the incident or their policy on their employees providing compensation in such a matter. "It's our understanding that the situation has been resolved," said Reggie Roberts, the vice president of football communications.
Post reporters presented the allegations made by Spencer to the Atlanta police on Nov. 12. The police responded by launching the internal affairs investigation, which centered on Hannah's conduct. The investigation, which was closed Jan. 20, exonerated him.
Hannah told internal affairs that after he viewed the videotapes and interviewed witnesses, he concluded that the watch had been taken mistakenly. "During the course of my investigation, by viewing the video and interviewing the witnesses and talking to Mr. Vick, I concluded there was no intent to unlawfully appropriate the watch and the person who took the watch mistakenly thought the watch belonged to Mr. Vick," Hannah said.
Police said property is often mistakenly taken at the airport without a police report being filed.
Even those TSA officials who have viewed the tape and say it is unclear whether a crime was committed believe further investigation was warranted. Others in the agency who viewed the tape are adamant that it was not taken by mistake, citing the manner in which Vick's companions acted before pocketing the watch, and the fact that they made no attempt to give Vick the watch or ask if it was his, despite their close proximity.
Furthermore, TSA officials said that, as Hannah requested, they made a copy of the videotape available to the police, but it was never picked up. Hannah said the tape was never delivered to the police by the TSA. The officer conducting the internal affairs investigation obtained a copy of the tape but said he was unable to view it because it was not compatible with his equipment, according to the police.
In the end, the internal affairs investigation concluded that Hannah's conduct was "justified, lawful and proper."
Spencer disagrees.
"When you deal with people like that, you're supposed to be the victim," Spencer said. "I had been victimized, and I was being made out to be the bad guy."
Spencer said the incident didn't end for him when he got his watch back. People at the airport were gossiping that he had attempted to extort money from the Falcons, he said, and he hired an attorney to find out what he could do about the incident.
"I'm very bitter about it," Spencer said. "I tried to press charges. They were unwilling to press charges at the time. I had no avenue of pressing charges. There's people who work with me [who have] been caught stealing trivial stuff [and they're] under federal investigation. As far as me, I get washed out under the table and tried to be made to look as the bad guy."
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
