MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama police officer has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a black man outside a neighbor’s home.
Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey said Wednesday that state investigators have obtained a warrant for the arrest of Montgomery police officer Aaron Smith.
“I will do everything in my power to protect a police officer who is operating within the law,” Bailey said Wednesday. “I will also use every ounce of my power to prosecute a police officer who is acting outside of the law.”
Bailey said Smith is in custody, with bond set at $150,000. He wouldn’t comment on what evidence led to the charge. It was not immediately clear whether Smith had a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
The charge comes days after authorities said Smith shot and killed 58-year-old Greg Gunn.
Authorities initially said Gunn was holding a stick or cane and the two men had struggled. But a neighbor of Gunn tells The Associated Press the stick was actually an extension handle for a paint roller that belonged to him.
Gunn’s death is an “isolated incident,” Bailey said, and the State Bureau of Investigations will continue to investigate the case.
SBI’s findings will be presented to a Montgomery County grand jury.
“I want to be crystal clear that the arrest that is being made today is in no way an indictment on the Montgomery Police Department,” Bailey said. “In fact, 99.9 percent of the Montgomery Police officers do an exceptional job on a daily basis protecting us and our community. They are, in fact, the thin blue line between order and chaos.”
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Things have sure changed in my home state of AL, but I think most of that has been in the last two years…good!
Wouldn’t his police union benefits include legal counsel? Or is Alabama a “right to work” state where even public employees are not unionized?
“They are, in fact, the thin blue line between order and chaos.”"
And that’s why we have to hire the occasional murderer or psychopath.
Well unless that city of 200 k people has 1000 police officers the problem is a bit bigger than 0.01 %. But it just doesn’t work like that. You have to have confidence in the system you are in to do something like this. You have to trust that you can do it and walk away. That’s a systemic thing not a 1/1000 thing.
States with large Black populations don’t screw around with this stuff. They know that if this kind of racial attack is ignored like it is where Blacks make up a negligible part of the electorate, that the powers that be will suffer.