The
inquest will result in a nonbinding ruling on whether there is probable
cause that Police used excessive force. The final decision on charging
the officer rests with State Attorney Barry Krischer.
Anyone hoping that next week's inquest
will result in criminal charges being filed against the officer who
shot and killed a 16-year-old outside a school dance in February should
steel themselves for disappointment. During the past 30 years, while
dozens of police beating and shooting deaths have been investigated,
only four Palm Beach County officers have been charged in connection
with their fatal decisions. All four were cleared at trial. And Palm
Beach County isn't unique. State attorneys from Pensacola to Miami say
that few, if any, officers have been charged with crimes for killing
people while on the job during the past 10 years. Though no one keeps
figures, a 2001 Daily Business Review investigation found that all 56
fatal police shootings investigated in Miami-Dade County from 1995 to
2001 were deemed justified. [more] and [more]
Pictured above:
Dean Frankson holds up his sign expressing a course of action for the
African-American community following the slaying of Delray Beach teen
Jerrod Miller. His message was part of an NAACP meeting discussing the
tragedy.
33 Witnesses Contradict Police Version of Shooting. The
Delray Beach police officer who killed Jerrod Miller as the teen drove
down a narrow walkway said he aimed for the head and fired because he
feared the boy would run down someone at a school dance. "There were
people directly in the path, a large group of people," rookie Officer
Darren Cogoni said in a videotaped statement made hours after the
shooting and played Monday during an inquest into Miller's death. "Had
I not thought that vehicle was going to strike those people, I would
not have fired my weapon," Cogoni said in a separate sworn statement
read in court. "I thought that the least amount of harm ... would be to
fire my weapon at that point." Those statements were at odds with other
witnesses' accounts, said Rick Caplano, a special agent who questioned
Cogoni and headed the shooting investigation. Caplano testified he
interviewed 33 witnesses in the Feb. 26 shooting at the Delray Full
Service Center but could identify no one in the path of the car or in a
parking area where it was headed when Miller was killed by a single
bullet to the back of his head. [more]
Judge to visit scene where Delray teen was shot by police as part of inquest [more]
Inquests don't solve issues, Florida prosecutors say [more]
Critics target black Delray officers after teen's shooting death [more]
