The black community has waited to find out what would happen in the case of John Crawford, the young father who was shot down inside of a Walmart Store holding a toy gun. The wait is over, but unfortunately, it isn’t the response we wanted to hear.
The Ohio grand jury met, deliberated and decided not to indict the two officers who shot and killed John Crawford. The event happened at the Beavercreek, Ohio, Walmart on August 5th, 2014, according to Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier.
The Walmart video has been released. you can see Mr. Crawford walking around the Walmart store with the toy rifle. Police were called as a store employee, who later admitted he lied, said Mr. Crawford was waving and pointing the gun at customers in the store. Police arrived tense to say the least.
The police walk into the video to encounter Mr. Crawford from behind. Before he could turn around, shots were fired and Mr. Crawford was down on the ground after to fatal shots.
The grand jury did see the video and hear the 911 call from the Walmart employee, along with testimony from 18 people regarding the case. They provided this statement after denying to pursue the case.
“The events of August 5th were tragic and we wish the outcome of that evening had been different. However, based on the information the responding officers had and Mr. Crawford’s failure to comply with the responding officers orders, the officers did what they were trained to do to protect the public. The officers followed accepted law enforcement training protocol in their response to the report of an active threat in the Wal-Mart store. The grand jury review of the evidence and subsequent no bill decision indicates the officers’ actions were not of a criminal nature and justified under Ohio law.”
“Although the state review process has been concluded, in keeping with the Beavercreek Police Department’s Organizational Values and our desire to uphold the public trust, City Manager, Michael A. Cornell and Police Chief Dennis Evers are requesting the Federal Bureau of Investigation conduct a separate review of the Beavercreek Police Department’s actions in this case to determine if there were any civil rights violations. The Beavercreek Police Department will cooperate fully with the FBI during this process. Until the conclusion of the review of the FBI’s recommendations by the Department of Justice, Officer Sean Williams will be assigned administrative desk duty within the police department.”
“The City will have no further comment pending the Department of Justice review.”
Source: Buzzfeed
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