Del Norte County Sheriff shooting death of Unarmed Black Man Probed
Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 09:14PM Del Norte County Sheriff Dean Wilson has released the name of the deputy who shot and killed a man on May 16 earlier on the Hwy. 199 Hiouchi Bridge over Smith River. Meanwhile, retired English teacher Greg Jones, of Brookings, the father of Eric Jones, 27, who died at the scene, feels that perhaps unnecessary force was used. He said that it’s likely his son was not armed, and so he wonders why lethal force was used in the incident. His son was shot twice; and one of his two dogs also was shot twice. Eric Jones was a graduate of Brookings-Harbor School District. He suffered from a bipolar condition, his father said. The victim was hit with one shot in his abdomen and one in a shoulder with a “downward trajectory into his torso,” said Mike Riese, Del Norte County D.A. Riese said that his office’s investigation will take weeks, and may come down to determining if Deputy Ramsay Williamson had time after shooting the dog to transition into the use of nonlethal force against Jones. Eric Jones, after leading officers on a chase 199 on May 16, allegedly ordered his dog to attack a deputy from Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office (DNSO). “Unfortunately just because someone is unarmed does not mean they aren’t imposing a real threat,” Wilson said. He said that Williamson was carrying a Taser at the time of the shooting, but that it wasn’t clear whether he had a baton or pepper spray too. “Most of our officers carry mace, a Taser and normally a baton,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff said that Williamson did not fire a warning shot. Doing so, he said, is up to the officer’s discretion, “but only if you feel it’s appropriate and safe to do so.”
Wilson said that the sheriff’s office policy on “when it is OK to fire your weapon” covers three basics.
“The policy basically says you can fire your weapon at the range; you can fire your weapon in defense of your life or the life of another; and you can fire your weapon in order to put a dog or any animal out of its injury if it’s been suffering,” he said.
He said the primary objective of an internal investigation will be to determine if Williamson was within the policy of justifiable use of force. He said that deputies Joe Garcia and Carl Berry also were at the scene. Each has been with DNSO five years.
Wilson said the only other weapon used during the incident was Garcia’s baton.
“He had employed his baton at the scene; I don’t know whether it was used against the dog or Jones,” the sheriff said.
When asked about the distance Williamson was from Jones when the shots were fired, Wilson said he didn’t know but that “once they get past a certain distance, the officer has to make that decision to either put that person down -- or engage in a very difficult situation where the person could possibly take that weapon away from you.
“There is no stated written policy or threshold -- that surely comes down to a combination of circumstances,” said Wilson. He said all officers are trained to shoot at center mass, which is the chest area.
“All of our training is center mass, the reason being, that is the only way you can take down a threat,” he said.
The sheriff said that he delayed releasing Williamson’s name for a week because, “We wanted to try to give the officer the opportunity to address all the issues involved.”
While DNSO conducts an internal investigation, the county D.A.’s office is conducting an external investigation to determine if criminal charges should be filed.
The victim’s father said he is not a suing kind of person, but that he is considering whether to take legal action.
Riese said that besides the officers at the scene, there were eight to 10 civilian witnesses, all of whom must be interviewed. Some of them live out of the area."I know that my boy was unarmed and that he was shot, not just once, but twice," Greg said. "As far as I can tell, this was a misuse of justice." [MORE]
Reader Comments (8)
The father of Eric Jones says he is "not a suing kind of guy." But how much do you want to bet that he *will* sue?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQW5DoY9lEA