MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee jury has acquitted a former police officer of first-degree reckless homicide in the shooting of a black man last year that ignited riots in the city.
Jurors on Wednesday found that Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was justified when he shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a brief foot chase following a traffic stop Aug. 23. Smith had a gun when he ran, but prosecutors said Smith had thrown the weapon over a fence and was defenseless when Heaggan-Brown fired the shot that killed him.
Heaggan-Brown’s attorneys argued the officer had to act quickly to defend himself. Bodycam footage showed 1.69 seconds passed between a shot that hit Smith in the arm — as he appeared to be tossing his gun — and the one that hit his chest.
Well, I successfully called that one.
Sad.
I have not followed the case closely, but this sounds like a very tough case. The police officer was chasing a suspect who was armed. To find the officer criminally responsible for not understanding that the suspect was throwing away his weapon, or to stop firing in less than 2 seconds from the time that happened, is a long stretch. On the facts as stated in the article, I think I would have voted to acquit, with no difficulty.
He was running away.
What if the police officer would have been White? Would you still have had no difficulty? This is not meant as a cutting remark or as snark in anyway. We have been almost conditioned to see police shootings in a certain way depending on the races and genders of those involved. I’ll admit that I have been, though I try to push myself not to be. Race would have effected my thoughts had I been on the jury though. Does that make me racist? I guess if I’m truly asking myself that question, I’m probably a lot better off than the people who never even consider how they think.
And yes, for some reason, I seem to be talking a lot today.
If the officer had good reason to believe that the guy running away was a major threat to others in the neighborhood, he had some justification for shooting at him. Otherwise, he had zero justification, since the officer could not be in jeopardy when he was the aggressor by running after him. I would have voted to convict the officer.