Body-camera footage part of review of death
For the first time, Columbus police investigators will use officer body-camera footage as they review a fatal shooting that involved officers.
Kareem Ali Nadir Jones, 30, was shot and wounded in the first block of Schultz Avenue just north of West Broad Street in Franklinton just before 6 p.m. Friday. He was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital, where he died at 7:43 a.m. Monday.
Frame by frame, investigators will be able to watch how Officer Samuel James and Officer Marc Johnson interacted with Jones leading up to gunshots. The two officers, who have never been involved in a shooting while patrolling the city, will be able to review the footage before talking to investigators, per terms in the union contract. On Monday, the officers met individually with legal counsel.
“There are things the officers won’t remember. There are things they won’t see — things they won’t know. They don’t count when they shoot,” said Jason Pappas, president of Fraternal Order of Police Cap City Lodge No. 9, when asked why officers should review body-camera footage before making formal statements.
As of Monday, 115 Columbus police officers, including Chief Kim Jacobs, were wearing body cameras, said Cathy Collins, assistant director of the city’s Department of Public Safety. Each month, approximately 80 more officers are getting outfitted with cameras. All patrol officers are to have them by the end of 2018.
When Jones was contacted by officers, his behavior was described as “erratic” and he was walking between vehicles, according to a statement by police. Jones was looking for a few children who had thrown rocks at his girlfriend’s sister’s car. Police said Jones did not comply with officers’ commands to get on the ground, and he was shot.
Jones was carrying a Glock 9 mm pistol that had been reported stolen in Vandalia, Ohio, said Denise Alex-Bouzounis, a spokeswoman for the division. Jones didn’t fire the gun. When asked if he pointed the gun at officers, Alex-Bouzounis said that detail is part of the investigation.
Nana Watson, president of the NAACP local chapter, said this case will be a test regarding body cameras.
“It’s my hope that this will be a transparent process. We’re saddened another life was lost as a result of a police shooting,” she said.
It has been rare for police administrators to rule that an officer wrongly shot someone, according to a Dispatch analysis. A majority of the shootings are ruled “clean.”
Pappas said of officers in those shootings: “They are cleared because they did the right thing at the right time.” He said they are well-trained in the use of force.
Pappas said of Friday’s shooting that it appears to have been justified because Jones had a gun and refused to comply.
In many cases, officers say in interviews that they were in fear for their lives. In this case, the division issued a statement saying the officers “felt threatened.”
“The police officers say, ‘I feared for my life.’ In the black community, when we see police, we fear for our lives. It’s reversed,” Watson said. “At some point, both parties have to come together.”