UPDATE: Most aspects of lawsuit to go to trial, one defendant dropped from lawsuit (the Sgt.) Judges comments on why trial to go forward
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Most allegations against Beavercreek police officer Sean Williams — who shot twice and killed Crawford, 22, of Fairfield, on Aug. 5, 2014 — will continue. All counts against Sgt. David Darkow were dismissed.
Rice wrote that when officers got to Walmart, “they did not observe Crawford waving the rifle around or pointing it at people or other objects. They heard no gunshots. Nor did they observe or hear anything that would lead them to believe that Crawford had threatened anyone, caused any injury or induced panic.”
The judge wrote, “In this case, the reasonableness of Williams’ use of deadly force hinges almost entirely on the question of whether, at the moment he pulled the trigger, Williams reasonably perceived Crawford to pose an imminent threat of serious physical harm to the officers or others. On this subject, the parties vehemently disagree.”
Rice wrote the case could turn on what jurors see when they watch the Walmart surveillance video.
A plaintiff’s expert testified that Williams fired his first shot at Crawford 1.5 seconds after Darkow gave his first verbal command and just .8 seconds after Crawford turned his head. The expert also said Williams fired his second shot .32 seconds after his first shot.
“Defendants’ own police practices expert, James Scanlon, testified that if Crawford did not rotate his body and gun toward the officers, there would have been no imminent threat of serious bodily harm and the shooting would not be justified,” Rice wrote.
IDK if this will affect the defendant or not in the trial but I if I recall correctly the defendant testified in a depostion that it was
his belief that he essentially would've been justified in shooting Crawford on sight, regardless of him turning his head or shouting a command, due to what he perceived the situation simply based on the 911 call and the fact he was holding what appeared to be a firearm, regardless of where it was pointed or what the suspect was doing. In other words he gets a 911 call sees man with gun and supposedly he's justified in shooting simply based on that alone? Obviously he's not a judge but it could go to his mindset at the time.
The decision highlighted Darkow’s different explanations of what he saw Crawford do, that it’s normal for a person to turn their head after hearing a command and that an expert said it “takes the average person 1.5 seconds after hearing a command to evaluate what he heard, to decide to act, and then to act.”
Crawford may have needed more time to process any request, Rice wrote, because Crawford was on his phone and the officers didn’t identify themselves as police.
“If, as Officer Williams claims, Crawford took an aggressive stance and rotated his body or the rifle toward the officers, then Crawford had no clearly established right to be free from the use of deadly force,” Rice wrote. “In fact, quite the opposite is true.”
Rice cited Williams’ use of force eight times the department average and that Evers, in a deposition, had called Williams “an aggressive officer” in the judge’s reasoning to keep in claims against Beavercreek for inadequate training and supervision.