- Police Brutality Watch

Three city police officers were cleared Monday of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a city man in an East Side apartment building last September. Following a lengthy investigation, State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict concluded that the three officers were justified in using deadly force in the fatal shooting of 41-year-old Jonathan Mosely on Sept. 28. Mosely, the investigation found, was hit by seven shots fired by three officers. "The officers were confronted by a man who was about to swing a baseball bat at the head of one of their group. Such conduct clearly is capable of inflicting a fatal injury. Moreover, Mr. Mosely gave the officers no opportunity to safely withdraw, nor would that have been permissible given the ongoing threat to the occupants of apartment 105," the area's top prosecutor wrote in a six-page decision. Mosely, a resident of French Street, was shot to death by Officers Jason Amato, Damien Czech and Sean Lynch after they confronted him standing outside his former girlfriend's door on Central Avenue with a baseball bat in his hands. The shooting sparked controversy in the city's minority community, prompting state Sen. Ernest Newton, a relative of Mosely, to say he was concerned that some might retaliate against police. [more]