Justice for Corey pt. II
I was researching the progress of Corey's case (see old blog...), and came across this posting at http://newsbusters.org/node/5574 , a site claiming to expose Liberal Media bias. Here's another version of what happened:Former Atlanta Police Department Officer Raymond S. Bunn was indicted on December 9, 2005 by a Fulton County County grand jury supervised by District Attorney Paul L. Howard.
Officer Bunn was charged with Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Violation of Oath.
The indictment arises from an incident that occurred three years earlier in the early morning of July 14, 2002 at a parking lot on Peachtree Road in Atlanta. Officer Bunn fired two shots at a Chevy Tahoe SUV that was trying to run him down in the parking lot; the driver of the vehicle, Corey Ward, was hit once in the head and died instantly. Murder and Felony Murder are capital offenses in Georgia. Officer Bunn was a seven-year veteran of the Atlanta P. D.
Following the incident Officer Bunn, a former Marine, was called for duty in Iraq by his National Guard Unit. He served in Iraq from February 2003 until January 2004 when he retuned to the Atlanta P. D. In July 2004 he resigned from the Atlanta P. D., taking a position with the Triple Canopy Security firm. In April 2005 he began work with the Blackwater Security Company providing security for Department of State personnel in Iraq. He has one prior incident involving use of force. In this same tough area of Atlanta, Officer Bunn was on patrol and asked the driver of a Jeep Cherokee to turn the stereo radio down so he could be heard. The driver, a female exited the car, and attacked Officer Bunn, striking and scratching him. Officer Bunn, in defense, struck her once and gave her a black eye. He was later exonerated of claims of racism and police brutality. He has an excellent record as an officer. He is 37 years old, married with five children. No trial date has been set.
Manny Arora of the firm Garland Samuel and Loeb represents officer Bunn. Manny Arora specializes in criminal defense matters.The Incident
In the early morning hours of July 14, 2002 Officer Bunn and his partner, Officer Terry Mulkey, were patrolling a tough nightclub area in Atlanta known as “Buckhead”. The area has bars that stay open until 4 a. m. and experiences lots of burglaries, car thefts, break-ins, shootings and riotous drunken behavior. Local residents complain frequently of brawls, fights and shootings. Officer Mulkey was driving an unmarked police vehicle; Officer Bunn was in the front passenger seat. They stopped at a parking lot and observed several vehicles at the back of the lot, and heard the breaking of a car window, and a vehicle alarm go off.
Suspecting that a vehicle theft was in progress, Mulkey pulled the cruiser into the lot and both exited their vehicle, leaving room for vehicles to enter and exit the parking lot. Prior to leaving the cruiser the officers turned on the blue police flashing lights to identify themselves as police officers. Both officers observed a black male, later identified as Jamal Smith, jump through the passenger side window of a Buick Grand National SUV. The window had been shattered and was missing.
Upon exiting their cruiser, the officers shouted “police, police stop” as Jamal Smith jumped out of the window of the Buick SUV and ran to a Chevy Tahoe. They saw him get into the back seat of the Chevy Tahoe driven by Corey Ward. Both officers were wearing pullover shirts with the words “Atlanta Police” in bold on the front and back; both were wearing chains around their necks that secured their Atlanta Police badges. Emergency blue lights were flashing from inside the windshield and in the rear of the police cruiser. Officers Bunn and Mulkey confronted the Chevy Tahoe about 25 feet in front with weapons drawn; they again yelled, “Police stop, Police stop”.
At the distance of 25 feet in front of the Chevy Tahoe Bunn and Mulkey started to approach the stopped vehicle, when the driver hit the gas and accelerated in reverse screeching the tires and then came to an abrupt stop. The officers began to advance towards the Chevy Tahoe again, but then the driver, Corey Ward, punched the gas pedal and came straight at the Officers. The officers retreated to front of their cruiser for safety. Both officers were in front of the cruiser that was sitting at a right angle with its front facing to the Chevy Tahoe. The Chevy Tahoe was bearing down straight at the front right side of the cruiser. Officer Mulkey was on the driver’s side and escaped to a position on the left front drivers side of the cruiser. Officer Bunn was trapped between the right front of the cruiser and the approaching Chevy Tahoe. As the Chevy Tahoe approached him at about 6- 8 feet, he jumped to his right to avoid being hit and fired his service revolver at the driver. The Chevy Tahoe hit Officer Bunn and his left knee was injured seriously when it was caught between the left front of the Chevy Tahoe and the right front fender of the cruiser. Officer Mulkey confirmed Officer Bunn’s version and stated that Officer Bunn fired his weapon before being hit by the Chevy Tahoe. He said he heard the shots fired, a loud thud and Officer Bunn yelling out in pain. Corey Ward was hit in the head by one bullet that went through the front drivers side window. The trajectory of the bullet was from the front of the temple to the back of the head. The Investigation
Atlanta officer M. R. Carter conducted the investigation. Officer Bunn was interviewed and gave a description of the incident, which was identical to the statement given by officer Mulkey. Both believed that their lives were in danger as the Chevy Tahoe bore down on them. There is no question that the deceased driver, Corey Ward, knew that Officers Bunn and Mulkey had clearly identified themselves as police officers. Two of the occupants of the vehicle, Rodriguez Brown and Jamal Smith say they heard the officers announce their identification, saw their badges and also saw the flashing emergency police lights. Other occupants of the vehicle will claim they thought white armed gunmen were robbing them.
Corey Ward had over two ounces of cocaine in his pocket when he was shot. A large knife was found in the pocket compartment between the driver and passenger’s seats. The Chevy Tahoe was searched and seven bags of marijuana were discovered hidden under the dashboard. Two stolen cell phones were found in the Chevy Tahoe. One cell phone was stolen from a nearby truck the night of the incident.
A study of the crash was conducted using the Vetronix Crash Data Retrieval System that apparently can retrieve data from the airbags in a severe crash. This data showed that the vehicle was traveling at 26 MPH 5 seconds before the crash and at 14 MPH one second before the impact with Officer Bunn and the police cruiser.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) made an analysis of the trajectory of the bullets. The GBI determined that Office Bunn’s position when the shots were fired was at the right front of the cruiser and to the front left of the Chevy Tahoe. The trajectory of the bullet that killed Corey Ward was from front to back of the head. The analysis by the GBI determined that the distance from Officer Bunn to the Chevy Tahoe when he fired was 5 feet or less.
Atlanta Police Department Use of Force Regulations
The regulation in effect for use of force in July 2002 for the Atlanta P. D. provided that “unnecessary use of force against any person or property is prohibited”; and “an employee shall only use necessary force against another person to effect an arrest, prevent an escape . . . or defend himself or another from physical assault. In any event, only the nature and amount of force deemed reasonably necessary by a prudent person to accomplish a lawful purpose shall be used.”
The regulation in effect for use of firearms in July 2002 provided that the primary intention of the policy was to “ensure the safety of both the public and the employees of this department. Therefore while it may become necessary for an employee to discharge a firearm, it is required that the employee make every effort to avoid such drastic action. In all cases only the given amount of force shall be used which is consistent with the accomplishment of the mission. The employee shall use caution and act in a calm and deliberate manner when he/she finds the use of a firearm necessary. No employee will be criticized if he/she chooses not to discharge a firearm if the discharge might threaten the life or safety of another or if the discharge might not be clearly warranted by this policy, state or reasonable judgment. Nor will criticism be made of an employee who when faced with a situation which threatened life or serious physical injury discharged a firearm in self-defense or in the defense of another.” The regulation ends with the caution that “deadly force cannot be taken lightly and that the employee’s actions must be legally warranted and defensible, but also within accepted moral and social codes and consistent with rational and humane social control in a democracy.” Analysis
This is a case, like the Morningstar case in Detroit, where an officer faced, and indeed, believed that he was in a dangerous and violent situation. If he did not act, he could be the victim of violence. Like the Morningstar case, Officer Bunn should be judged from the perspective of what he was facing and what he perceived the threat to be.
Both officer Bunn and Mulkey claimed that they feared for their lives when Corey Ward accelerated the Chevy Tahoe directly at them. Both considered the Chevy Tahoe to be a dangerous weapon. Corey Ward knew that Bunn and Mulkey were police officers since both officers had drawn weapons, emergency lights were flashing and clear identification was on their bodies. Two of the passengers, Rogriguez Brown in particular, state unequivocally that Ward knew they were police officers. Brown was sitting directly behind Ward in the backseat and stated that he observed the emergency lights and the police identification and said Ward also observed the same things that he did.
It can be reasonably concluded that Ward feared being caught with cocaine on his person and deliberately chose to go at the officers in an attempt to run them down and escape. There was clearly room for Ward to avoid the officers and simply speed out of the parking lot. Why he attempted to drive at and over the officers and harm them is speculative. But the discovery of 7 bags of marijuana and the possession of cocaine on Wards person probably caused him to panic and go straight at the officers.
The forensic evidence tends to support Officers Bunn and Mulkey in their claims of imminent danger from the Chevy Tahoe. At 14 miles per hour, a Chevy Tahoe is a dangerous instrument, at 25 miles per hour it is deadly. The logical reason for the drop in speed from 25 MPH to 14 MPH is that in the last few seconds, Corey Ward had been shot and thus no longer was pressing down on the gas pedal.
The regulations for the use of force and use of firearms do not provide much in the way of guidance for a police officer faced with a dangerous confrontation. Use of force is authorized to defend from physical assault, but is to be exercised reasonably and with prudence. Us of a firearm is authorized but is to be avoided if possible, but is authorized in life threatening situations and where serious physical injury is threatened. Deadly force must be legally warranted and defensible.
This is not a case where the officers deliberately confronted the occupants of the vehicle to provoke an incident. They legitimately suspected a burglary or break in was in progress, and properly demanded that the suspects stop and obey their lawful orders. Corey Ward used the vehicle as a weapon, and did so recklessly. By comparison, how different would the officers have reacted if Corey Ward had pointed a firearm at them? No different, they would have correctly concluded that they were in imminent danger and would have been justified using deadly force. The Chevy Tahoe was used as a weapon and in view was the use of deadly force, no less that if Corey Ward had pointed a firearm at the officers. Thus it can be concluded that Officer Bunn used deadly force in self-defense and in defense of the safety of officer Mulkey.
...I also found this...:
SECTION: Metro News; Pg. 1C
LENGTH: 2056 words
HEADLINE: Mourning for Corey;
Family, friends remember teen killed by officer
BYLINE: ERNIE SUGGS
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
Blaring raps by Jay-Z or Biggie Smalls once welcomed Monesia Youngblood home from work. But her house went silent July 14.
That night, her 18-year-old son, Corey Ward, left home in her new Chevy Tahoe with a truckload of friends, never to return.
"Corey was always the joy of the house," Youngblood said. "I don't hear loud rap music anymore when I come home. But I wish the music was playing."
Ward died after he was shot by Atlanta police Officer Raymond Bunn. Police say the plainclothes officer thought the teens were trying to steal the car and fired in self-defense because Ward was trying to run over him. Ward's friends and family say the teenager thought he was being carjacked by a man with a gun and was trying to get away.
In mid-January, an internal Atlanta Police Department investigation into Ward's death was turned over to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard's office for review. "We have been painstakingly reconstructing what happened, so we can make a fair judgment" on whether to bring any charges, Howard said.
Making matters more difficult, Howard said, is the fact that Bunn is now stationed overseas with his Army Reserve unit. Bunn could not be reached for comment. In the past, he has declined to discuss the Ward shooting.
As investigators sift through events surrounding the shooting, Youngblood, her family, and Ward's friends still reel from that summer night. It took them seven months to feel they could speak publicly about it. Recently, they met at Youngblood's house for a group discussion with a reporter.
"I just want to see justice," said Ward's father, John Arnold.
The family room of Youngblood's brick home in Decatur is full of folks. If there were ever an extended family, Corey Ward had one.
His grandmothers --- Judy Atkins and Avis Jones --- live in the neighborhood. So does his aunt Sharon Robinson. The five men who were in the car with Ward the night he died --- who were around the house so much they are referred to by Atkins and Jones as their "grandchildren" --- grew up nearby. The group grew so tight they became known as the "Canary Court Boys," after the neighborhood where they grew up.
They attended high school together, played together and chased girls together. Three of them work together now.
Youngblood's sister, Chalee Carmichael, moved in to keep Youngblood company after her son's death. She moved into Ward's room. Aside from a few personal touches, like perfume and flowered comforters, it still looks like a teenage boy's room. Ward's stuff is still there.
"We are not ready to box it up yet," Youngblood said.
"The time will come," said Atkins. "But not now."
Ward was born when his mother and father were in high school. Even though Youngblood and Arnold never married, they have maintained a friendly relationship. He lives across the street from her. Youngblood later married, but her husband died three years ago, making Ward --- who grew up with his mother's maiden name --- the man of the house. In a wood-paneled room lined with trophies and photographs, they describe Ward as a teenager who was kind to his grandmothers, tended to his 9-year-old brother, Alphonse Jamal "A.J." Youngblood, and still was a "player" who took three dates to the prom. He hoped to become an electrician, they said.
"He always had a calmness about him. He was a humble, down-to-earth person who never got in trouble," said Avis Jones, the matriarch of the Ward family, which just had a book published that dates the family to 1851 in Atlanta.
After his death, dozens of people participated in marches on behalf of Ward. Hundreds attended his funeral.
"It amazed my heart to see the people who were here. It was like his light was shining," said Atkins. "God flew this angel into our lives and he let him fly out."
Atkins said faith and prayer have helped them cope with the death.
"For a moment, I thought God was punishing us," said Atkins. "I was angry with God for letting this happen. I was confused. But through prayer, I am more hurt than mad now. I am asking God to give me strength."
Riding in style
On the day he died, Ward asked to borrow his mother's 2001 Chevy Tahoe to go to a party with his friends Jason Heath, Jamal Smith and Jason Smith. Although they all had cars, Ward felt he needed the bigger vehicle to ride in style and comfort.
Halfway to their destination, Jason Heath heard a favorite song of his younger brother, Jerrell, on the radio.
"Corey said, 'Let's go get Jerrell,' " Jason, 19, remembers. Jason was surprised. Ward usually didn't want so many riders in one car. Jerrell, 17, recalled a few months earlier on a rainy afternoon when he was walking home, Ward pulled up with two other people in the car.
"I asked for a ride, and he was like, 'Nah. I never ride four deep,' " Jerrell said. "Then he left me. I walked home." On their way to get Jerrell last July, Ward and his friends spotted Rodriguez "Toot" Brown, Ward's first cousin. Brown, 17, a state Merit Award winner who will attend Morehouse College next year, was headed to his date's house that night. After Ward complained that Brown never hung out with them since he had gotten a girlfriend, Brown succumbed to peer pressure. He jumped into the Tahoe.
The Canary Court Boys set out for a house party that another friend was having in the neighborhood.
"But there were no girls there, so we left," said Brown. "We decided to go to Buckhead."
Since most of them were too young to get into a club, they spent the Saturday night walking the strip and talking to girls.
"We were having such a good time that night," said Jason Heath. "Corey was smiling all night."
A record of force
Officer Raymond Bunn and his partner, Terry Mulkey, also were in Buckhead that evening. They were assigned to the area as members of the police crime suppression unit, a force that works in plainclothes in populated or high-crime areas.
Bunn joined the Police Department in September 1997. In July 1999, Bunn was the first officer on the scene of All-Tech Investment Group Inc., one of two day trading offices where trader Mark O. Barton killed nine people in a 1999 shooting rampage.
On four occasions, according to Bunn's personnel file, the department's Office of Professional Standards investigated claims that Bunn used excessive force in making arrests.
Police union officials have said that four incidents in six years isn't an excessive number, although in one incident, the officer broke a woman's eye socket. Bunn admitted that he used force against Ylia Lavender, but police said she never pursued a complaint. The Atlanta City Council later denied her claim for damages and the case quietly closed.
Marc Lawson, president of the Atlanta chapter of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, said Bunn had been seen by others in the department as a good officer. "I have been acquainted with Bunn for years, and every encounter I have had with him was professional," Lawson said. "His fellow officers seem to be supportive of him. I have had no one tell me that he is given to overreacting. Certainly not to intentionally harm a citizen."
The two stories
At about 3 a.m. July 14, Corey Ward and his friends had had enough of Buckhead and went to get the Tahoe to drive back home. What happened after that is the subject of considerable dispute.
According to police, the events unfolded this way: Bunn heard glass break near where Ward was parked and thought someone was trying to steal or break into a car. Bunn told investigators he ordered Ward to stop. Ward refused and drove at Bunn, hitting the officer with the slow-moving Tahoe. Bunn fired, shooting Ward in the head.
According to Ward's friends, it happened like this: Ward panicked when he saw two white men jump from a Ford Taurus with guns drawn. Ward tried to escape. As he tried to get away, Bunn shot him.
His friends believe Ward may have panicked because he was deeply scarred by a 2001 carjacking. About a year earlier, two men confronted him at a stop sign, pistol-whipped him and took his car, they said.
"The carjacking hurt him. Hurt him bad," said Jason Heath. "I came over here to walk to school and I didn't see his car. I said, 'Where your car at?' He said. 'I got robbed,' and just broke down and started crying. We couldn't even go to school that day. I just sat with him all day."
His friends say that Ward had been pulled over by police several times and probably would have stopped if he had known Bunn was a police officer.
"Any time you are young and black and you see the police behind you, you get paranoid anyway," said Jerrell Heath. "Why wouldn't he stop if he knew it was a cop?"
The morning news
The quiet woke Youngblood at 4 a.m. She knew the boys were going to sleep at her house that night, but she heard nothing.
"I saw that everybody's car was still parked outside. Corey never stays out late, and if he does, he always calls," said Youngblood, who immediately picked up the phone and started calling the cellphone numbers of Ward and his friends. "I called Corey. I called Toot. I called [Toot's mother] Sharon."
Youngblood couldn't go back to sleep. About 7 a.m., she saw a TV news report that a man had been killed in an attempted carjacking of an SUV that looked like hers.
Sharon Robinson, meanwhile, started calling police departments, hoping they could help her put the pieces together.
When she heard the word "carjacking," she assumed that if Ward and his friends were involved, it was the carjacker who had been killed.
By 9 a.m., Robinson reached an Atlanta police official who confirmed only that her son, Toot, was in jail. "I was still thinking it was a carjacking," said Robinson.
She called Youngblood. A police officer picked up the phone and she heard Youngblood wailing in the background. She knew it was bad.
At her home nearby, Marilyn Harris, mother of Jason and Jerrell Heath, was getting ready for church when she saw the report of the carjacking and the killing. "Five minutes after I saw the story, the phone rang. It was the police telling me to come pick up Jerrell," said Harris. "When I got there, he was out of it. He was pale white. I asked if Jason had been shot. He said, 'Corey's gone,' and just broke down."
Jerrell would say later the events of that night "traumatized" him. The four others were quickly put in red jumpsuits and booked on charges of obstruction of an officer and breaking into a vehicle.
The Rev. Markell Hutchins, who has served as the family spokesman, said the teens were outfitted in jumpsuits to demonize them. Police, Hutchins said, "knew they had a PR nightmare on their hands."
The Canary Court Boys were released to their parents by morning.
In September, police dropped all the charges against them.
Police policy reviewed
Seven months after Corey Ward's death, his friends said they hardly go out anymore. They avoid crowds and are prone to spells of silence.
"I used to always tell them, don't leave the neighborhood," said Robinson. "Rodriguez came to me and said, 'I used to not understand what you were saying, but we didn't do anything.' "
Ward's death was one of three involving police officers in a matter of days and prompted Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington to launch a review on the policies and procedures of how and when officers will discharge their weapons. In December, attorney Johnnie Cochran filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Ward's family.
"If this blows over, it might be your son next," said Judy Atkins, one of Ward's grandmothers. "Chief Pennington visited us and I think honestly wanted to help. He did all that he could at that time, and I feel that he will do the right thing."
A quiet house
After two hours of talking, reflecting and crying in the family room, folks start to get hungry. Hutchins leads them in prayer, asking God to continue to give them strength.
As the room slowly clears, the Canary Court Boys spill into the yard. The grandmothers, cousins and aunts follow, trying to figure out who is going to cook that night.
For a moment, silence envelops Youngblood as she stands alone in her kitchen.
"You try to go through your regular routine, but it is hard," she said. "Now it is just me and A.J. The house is kind of quiet."
Labels: social issues
posted by ~Kesh @ 6/16/2006 01:35:00 PM
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