California AG sees no grounds for charging two policemen in black man’s killing
SACRAMENTO, California: California’s top law enforcement official said he has found no grounds to criminally charge two Sacramento policemen who shot an unarmed black man to death last year, but federal prosecutors have opened a civil rights probe into the matter.
Announcing the findings of his independent inquiry, Attorney General Xavier Becerra agreed with the Sacramento County district attorney’s conclusion that the two officers had sound reason to believe the man they shot, Stephon Clark, 22, posed a lethal threat to them.
The DA’s decision on Saturday not to prosecute the officers, who police said mistook Clark’s cell phone for a gun, has angered community activists and touched off three nights of protests in Sacramento, the state capital.
Becerra, speaking to reporters after a lengthy private meeting on Tuesday with Clark’s mother and other relatives, said the 11month probe by his office closes the criminal investigation of what he called a ‘tragedy.’
But the US Attorney for the Eastern District of California, McGregor Scott, later said his office will conduct a separate investigation with the FBI into whether the shooting constituted a violation of Clark’s civil rights.
Members of Clark’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the officers and city in January, accusing them of racial profiling and excessive force and seeking more than US$20 million in damages.
On Tuesday, they posted an online call for support of a bill to tighten rules under which police officers are permitted to use deadly force and allowing them to be found criminally negligent for behaviour leading to such force.
Becerra said his findings hinged largely on video from police cameras, which civil liberties activists and some law enforcement officials have advocated as a crucial tool in bringing about police reforms.
But the chilling images captured in the footage, which sparked a furor over accusations of excessive police force, demonstrated how even black-and-white recordings of such events can be open to wide interpretation depending on the eye of the beholder.
Clark, a father of two, was killed on the night of March 18, 2018, in his grandparents’ backyard in a hail of 20 bullets fired by the two officers responding to a report of someone smashing car windows on the street.
Becerra stressed that his probe was requested by Sacramento’s police chief and conducted as a separate, independent examination of the evidence, rather than a review of police or prosecutors’ investigations.
But the findings he outlined largely aligned with conclusions announced on Saturday by District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. — Reuters