[ad_1]
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will announce its decision Monday afternoon on whether it will file criminal charges against an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer who shot and killed a Black man in a stopped car in May.
Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference.
Dion Johnson, 28, died after George Cervantes, a DPS trooper, shot him on May 25 on Loop 101 near Tatum Boulevard.
Johnson was killed on Memorial Day, the same day George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.
Their deaths led to weeks of protests in the Phoenix area demanding equal treatment for people of color.
Phoenix police reviewed the trooper’s fatal shooting of Johnson and in July sent their report to the County Attorney’s Office for review.
The police documents released publicly did not reach a conclusion about Cervantes’ actions, nor did they make recommendations to the County Attorney’s Office on whether Cervantes should be charged.
Supporters of the family have called on Cervantes and another officer who arrived later at the scene to be fired. Federal authorities are looking into the case.
Johnson’s family demanded transparency. Erma Johnson, Dion’s mother, told The Arizona Republic in June that she wants justice.
“I just couldn’t believe it. How they had him, how they treated them,” she said. “Why? As human beings having feelings, do you just not have feelings? Was it because he was a Black man that had tattoos? What was it?”
His family has seen footage from an Arizona Department of Transportation live feed. Erma Johnson said she watched one of the troopers in the video kick her son while he lay dying.
According to a 911 caller, Cervantes was struggling with Dion and tried to restrain him moments before the officer shot and killed him.
90% of police shooting cases cleared of criminal charges
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office will review at least 470 police shooting cases from Jan. 1, 2011, through Aug. 19, 2020, according to an analysis from The Arizona Republic.
Of the cases that have already been reviewed, 425 cases, or 90% percent, have been cleared with no criminal charges against the officers. The rest were pending a decision from prosecutors.
Since Jan. 1, 2011, two officers have been charged in a police shooting in Maricopa County.
Former Mesa police officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford was charged with murder in the killing of Daniel Shaver. In December 2017, a Maricopa County jury acquitted Brailsford. On June 26, the prosecutor’s office charged Mesa police officer Nathan Chisler with aggravated assault in the Dec. 6, 2019, shooting of Randy Sewell.
In Maricopa County, when a law enforcement officer shoots a person, usually that agency will criminally investigate the shooting and present the evidence, along with a recommendation on whether to prosecute, to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Sometimes, the police agency will ask another police agency to handle the investigation.
A panel of prosecutors then reviews the evidence and makes a recommendation to Adel, who determines whether the officer or officers will be charged.
‘You ain’t gotta do all that!’
DPS asked Phoenix police to investigate Johnson’s shooting.
Cervantes had told investigators that he was on his way to meet another trooper at the 64th Street exit of the Loop 101 freeway when he came across Johnson’s 2007 Toyota Prius parked in the gore area near Tatum Boulevard. Johnson was unconscious when the trooper found him, Cervantes said.
Cervantes found a gun in Johnson’s vehicle, removed it and put it in the trooper’s motorcycle saddlebag, according to the police report.
The trooper called for backup. Meanwhile Cervantes tried to remove the keys from the ignition in Johnson’s vehicle but he couldn’t, the report says.
Cervantes then handcuffed Johnson’s left wrist after Johnson woke up. Cervantes asked him to get out of the vehicle, the report says. Johnson then brought his knees and feet toward his chest “with the ability to thrust Trooper Cervantes backward into the traffic lane(s) if he forcefully extended his legs,” the report said.
Cervantes then removed his handgun from his holster and twice told Johnson to “stop resisting or I’m going to shoot you,” he recounted to investigators.
“The male (Johnson) stated, ‘You ain’t gotta do all that! You ain’t gotta do all that!’ several times, then relaxed his body and placed his feet on the sill of the driver door,” the report said.
Cervantes had started to put his handgun back in the holster when Johnson used his left hand to grab Cervantes’ vest and his right hand to grab Cervantes’ wrist. Johnson pulled Cervantes toward him and into his vehicle, and Cervantes’ feet came off the ground, the report said.
The trooper told detectives he fired because he was afraid he was going to be killed or seriously injured, the report says.
The trooper fired twice, striking Johnson once.
Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2020/09/21/dion-johnson-shooting-county-attorney-allister-adel-announce-george-cervantes/5855952002/
[ad_2]
Source link