NAACP Calls For Special Prosecutor In Shooting Of Man In Wheelchair By Police
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The fatal shooting of a man in a wheelchair by Wilmington police is being investigated by a new unit within the Delaware attorney general’s office whose purpose is to instill public trust in government however the state NAACP is calling for an independent investigation by a special prosecutor. Authorities say Wednesday afternoon 28 year old Jeremy McDole was shot after police responded to a 911 call, regarding a man who had shot himself and was still armed with a handgun.
On Thursday Police Chief Bobby Cummings said that McDole, who was left paralyzed by a shooting 10 years ago, didn’t obey officers’ commands to show his hands and lower his weapon, and that he was shot as he began to remove the gun from his waist. Cummings said he was unaware if McDole pointed the gun at any of the four officers, “but when he went to remove the weapon, they engaged him.”
Cummings also said it was not clear if any attempt was made by officers to use nonlethal force before shooting McDole, who was black. He also would not say whether he thought the situation should have been handled differently.
The incident is being investigated by the police department’s criminal investigation and professional standards units, as well as the Delaware Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust, which will also determine whether any officers will be charged. The state agency has the responsibility of investigating all police shootings that result in injury or death.
However while praising Denn for doing a good job as attorney general, Richard Smith, head of the Delaware chapter of the NAACP, made it clear he did not trust the state Justice Department to conduct a fair and impartial investigation. Smith cited the results of its previous investigations into police shootings that resulted in injury or death.
Smith, who met with Denn on Thursday said “There’s been so many shootings, and every time it comes out it was a justified shooting. We cannot continue having all our folks being shot and nobody held accountable…. Every time there was a shooting, it came back justified shooting. Everything can’t be justified.”
A DOJ spokesman declined to respond to Smith’s call for a special prosecutor. As for McDole’s history he has an arrest record that dates back at least to 2005, the same year he was left paralyzed after being shot in the back by a friend.
McDole also has convictions for drug possession as well as disorderly conduct, however other charges, including carrying a concealed deadly weapon and resisting arrest, have been dropped.
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