COP WAS ACTING IN SELF DEFENSE AS HE FOLLOWED BLACK MAN, SHOT HIM IN THE BACK?? From [HERE] Franklin County Commissioners unanimously approved a $7 million settlement in a civil lawsuit involving a sheriff deputy's fatal shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. in 2020.

The Franklin County Prosecutor's Office asked commissioners to approve the multi-million dollar settlement from the county general fund that would dismiss all civil claims by Goodson's family without admitting any liability, according to a resolution.

Former sheriff's deputy Jason Meade fatally shot Goodson in December 2020.

Before the approval, all three county commissioners spoke about how the dollar amount would not bring Goodson back or replace the loss his family has felt.

Meade faces a retrial by special prosecutors this fall after a jury could not agree on a verdict earlier this year.

Meade was initially charged with one count of reckless homicide, one charge of murder for purposefully causing his death and one charge of felonious assault in Goodson's death. 

Prosecutors later dropped the purposeful murder charge and plan on retrying Meade with the remaining reckless homicide charge and murder charge. The first court date in his second trial is set for October.

Casey had just left an appointment at the dentist’s office and was bringing lunch back to his grandmother’s house when Jason Meade shot him six times from behind, killing him. Meade’s lawyer says the deputy fired when Goodson pointed a gun at him. Goodson’s family has said he was holding a sandwich, not a gun.

The complaint states in relevant part,

“a group of officers tasked to the U.S. Marshals were in the neighborhood to arrest someone that was not Casey and was in no way affiliated with Casey. Jason Meade was working with the task force as a member of their Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) and as a member of their District Fugitive Task Force (DTF). The U.S. Marshals were heavily armed, and Jason Meade was not in uniform and was carrying a rifle.

The SOFAST and DTF did not find their target, however the target’s sister did encounter Meade when he and his colleagues raided her home. As she stated in a Facebook post, “#JasonMeade was already on bullshit before he left my house. Knowing I wasn’t dressed busted in my room knowing I was naked and we had a brief argument as he felt I had ‘plenty of time’ to get dressed. They were aware my brother was AT WORK. Truth be told, they shouldn’t have been on this street PERIOD. It was as simple as communicating with the parties involved.” The sister also later described Meade as a ticking time bomb who was extremely angry and aggressive when inside of her home.

The mission of SOFAST and DTF ended without apprehending their target, and the members of the team began to disperse.

Around this time, Casey had finished his appointment at the dentist. After leaving, Casey went to Subway to buy sandwiches for his family.

As Casey was returning home from Subway, upon information and belief, Jason Meade saw Casey and followed Casey back to his home.

Upon information and belief, Casey arrived home, parked, and exited his vehicle. He grabbed the bag of subway sandwiches, and began walking toward the side of the house to enter through the side door.

Casey was not committing any crime, was not suspected of committing any crime and did not present any threat to Meade or anyone else. He was simply attempting to enter his own home.

Jason Meade—armed with a rifle— targeted and hunted Casey, following him as Casey proceeded towards his house.

Casey proceeded to enter the side door of the house. The side door of the house is comprised of an exterior door with a metal-screen, and a wooden interior door with a lock. Casey opened the exterior door and used his keys to unlock the wooden door. As Casey unlocked the wooden door, Jason Meade opened fire. Casey was entering through the door when Jason Meade shot him to death.

Meade fired six bullets into Casey’s body with his rifle. Two bullets pierced Casey’s back, ripping through his body, bullet’s trajectory exiting through his chest, next to his heart.

Another bullet pierced Casey’s back, about six inches from where the first and second bullet pierced his body, exiting directly left to his chest.

Meade fired another bullet into Casey’s left-lower-back. Unlike Jason Meade’s first, second, and third bullet, the fourth bullet did not rip through Casey’s body. Instead, it blew a chunk of flesh off of Casey’s body.

Meade fired another bullet into Casey’s lower-right-back, ripped through Casey’s body up to Casey’s chest.

A sixth bullet entered Casey’s right buttock and remained lodged directly above his hip bone. At least three of the bullets flew through the metal screen, shattering the glass contained within the door.

Wound mapping provided Bauer Forensics demonstrates that Meade shot Casey all six times while Casey was facing away from him, entering his home.

Nine members of Casey’s family were in the house at that time but did not know that Meade was nearby. They did not hear any alleged orders or commands from Meade.

When Casey’s family heard gunshots and the glass in the metal screen door shattering, they ran toward the door to see what was happening. There, Casey’s family members observed Casey lying on the kitchen floor, bleeding to death.

While still in the house, an officer pointed his rifle at Tamala’s brother, who was holding his three-year old daughter and commanded them to “get out of the house before [he] shoots them too.”

Casey’s grandmother suffered a stroke that night, which caused her to fall and injure her head in her own home—the same place where Jason Meade shot her grandson in the back six times.

This shooting was unjustified, objectively unreasonable, and constituted excessive force, in violation of Casey’s constitutional rights.