Rhode Island Lawyer, David Slepkow

It is possible that surveillance video recently reviewed by lawyers and Crawford’s father could help those involved better understand what exactly happened that tragic day.  Michael Wright, an attorney who watched the video, described the police shooting as one carried out in a “militaristic” manner.  Crawford’s family is seeking civil justice for their loved one, who they believe was wrongly killed by officers. In addition to the civil matter, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has assigned Michael Piepmeier to serve as special prosecutor in the criminal investigation of the case, which is scheduled to go to grand jury review in September. Piepmeier has handled about 100 officer-involved shooting cases in the past, according to the Attorney General’s office.

In last week’s blog post, we reported on the two wrongful death suits filed against the Ferguson Police Department. The police killer of Michael Brown has lead other families affected to step up and hold the city and its law enforcement agencies accountable for other alleged incidents of brutality in the region.  In 2011, Jason Moore was pronounced dead after being Tasered by police officers in Ferguson.  After police arrived at his home one morning, Moore removed his clothing and ran down the street shouting religious statements.  His family states that he was clearly mentally ill.  After he was already on the ground, police officers allegedly Tasered him three more times.  Regardless of whether or not the suit proves successful, it seems patently obvious that excessive force has been used too often by police in Ferguson, and many other communities.