Inquest into Delray shooting of 16 Yr. Old Black boy Unlikely to lead to charges against officer

• The inquest will result in a nonbinding ruling on whether there is probable cause that Police used excessive force. The final decision on charging the officer rests with State Attorney Barry Krischer.

Anyone hoping that next week's inquest will result in criminal charges being filed against the officer who shot and killed a 16-year-old outside a school dance in February should steel themselves for disappointment. During the past 30 years, while dozens of police beating and shooting deaths have been investigated, only four Palm Beach County officers have been charged in connection with their fatal decisions. All four were cleared at trial. And Palm Beach County isn't unique. State attorneys from Pensacola to Miami say that few, if any, officers have been charged with crimes for killing people while on the job during the past 10 years. Though no one keeps figures, a 2001 Daily Business Review investigation found that all 56 fatal police shootings investigated in Miami-Dade County from 1995 to 2001 were deemed justified. [more] and [more]

• Pictured above: Dean Frankson holds up his sign expressing a course of action for the African-American community following the slaying of Delray Beach teen Jerrod Miller. His message was part of an NAACP meeting discussing the tragedy.
• 33 Witnesses Contradict Police Version of Shooting. The Delray Beach police officer who killed Jerrod Miller as the teen drove down a narrow walkway said he aimed for the head and fired because he feared the boy would run down someone at a school dance. "There were people directly in the path, a large group of people," rookie Officer Darren Cogoni said in a videotaped statement made hours after the shooting and played Monday during an inquest into Miller's death. "Had I not thought that vehicle was going to strike those people, I would not have fired my weapon," Cogoni said in a separate sworn statement read in court. "I thought that the least amount of harm ... would be to fire my weapon at that point." Those statements were at odds with other witnesses' accounts, said Rick Caplano, a special agent who questioned Cogoni and headed the shooting investigation. Caplano testified he interviewed 33 witnesses in the Feb. 26 shooting at the Delray Full Service Center but could identify no one in the path of the car or in a parking area where it was headed when Miller was killed by a single bullet to the back of his head. [more]
  
• Judge to visit scene where Delray teen was shot by police as part of inquest [more]
• Inquests don't solve issues, Florida prosecutors say [more]
• Critics target black Delray officers after teen's shooting death [more]