Yesterday, U.S. Park Police–as part of a task force–found themselves in the middle of a very strange fatal shooting. Within 24 hours, police and news accounts have begun to differ on how U.S. Park Police officers ended up firing on Trey Joyner. And now the Partnership for Civil Justice has filed a FOIA seeking answers.

The U.S. Park Police has one story. And a WJLA story with interviews from potential neighborhood witnesses has yet another version of events. Let’s break it down.

Read More “Police Shooting of Trey Joyner Produces Divergent Stories” »

Maybe you are sick of hearing about the DeOnte Rawlings case. The 14-year-old was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer on September 17, 2007. That’s a long time ago. By now, the off-duty cops have been cleared by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the D.C. Police Department. Law enforcement contends that Rawlings had fired on the officers—James Haskel and Anthony Clay—first and was riding Haskel’s stolen minibike. Officer Haskel only returned fire in self defense.

So what keeps this case from going away? We keep learning new problems with the police work on this case, and new holes in the narrative. Today we published a very long piece on the Rawlings shooting that’s simply taken from the depositions of those involved. In it you may find out things you didn’t already know. On City Desk, I will be presenting a series of documents and deposition testimony highlighting more screwups, questionable memos, and just sad little details. There’s a reason why this case won’t go away.

Kicking off this series, we have an exchange between Rawlings’ family’s attorney Gregory Lattimer and Sgt. Ralph Wax during Wax’s deposition taken last fall. Wax headed up the investigation into the shooting. Here he details what Rawlings had on him when he died and the confusion over exactly what color shirt he was wearing at the time. The shirt color would turn out to be crucial since the cops could only recall what Rawlings was wearing at the time. They couldn’t identify any of his physical features. Wax also notes that no gunshot residue was found on Rawlings’ clothing.

Read More “The DeOnte Rawlings Files: Part One” »

On Nov. 6, 2008, David Kerstetter was shot and killed inside his home by D.C. police officers. Despite the decision of the U.S. attorney’s office not to prosecute the officers involved, Kerstetter’s family has filed a notice with the District that it plans to sue the city over their son’s death. The family’s attorney, Douglas Sparks, notified Mayor Adrian Fenty in a letter dated May 1 [PDF].

We have written about the Kerstetter shooting here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here—not to mention the cover story linked above. The Sparks letter is based on the lawyer’s interviews with witnesses, the autopsy report, and an exhaustive scene analysis. It provides the first counter-narrative to law enforcement’s public account that Kerstetter had lunged at the officers with a knife—that Officer Frederick Friday shot and killed the Logan Circle resident in self defense. The new evidence appears to point to excessive force.

Read More “Breaking: David Kerstetter’s Family To Sue The District” »

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has declined to prosecute Officer Frederick Friday for the shooting death of David Kerstetter in early November of last year. Friday had shot and killed Kerstetter in the Logan Circle resident’s bathroom entrance. Friday, and his partner Officer Christian Glynn, had responded to the home after a report of an open door. Kerstetter suffered from a mental illness and had pleaded for the police to leave him alone. The police went in anyway to investigate. Officer Friday claimed Kerstetter came at him with a knife before he opened fire. Kerstetter was shot multiple times.

“We’ve closed it out,” wrote  Channing Phillips, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, an e-mail. “After a thorough review of the matter, we declined to bring charges after determining that it was a justifiable shooting.  We have since sent the matter back to MPD for whatever action it deems appropriate.”

Phillips went on to state: “There was no evidence that the officer violated the law when he used deadly force in this case.  Beyond that, I can’t comment.”

Today, Phillips wrote another e-mail explaining further the office’s decision.

Read More “U.S. Attorney’s Office Declines To Prosecute Cop Shooter In Kerstetter Case” »