News / Society

Only 54 US officers charged in fatal shootings since 2005: Analysis

Sunday, 24 May 2015 4:19 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 24 May 2015 4:19 AM ]

Only 54 officers have been charged for thousands of fatal shootings at the hands of police since 2015.

Only 54 officers have been charged for thousands of fatal shootings at the hands of police across the United States over the past decade, according to a new report.

An analysis by The Washington Post and researchers at Bowling Green State University sought to identify, for the first time, every police officer who was charged for fatal shootings since 2005.

What the researchers found represents a tiny fraction of the cases involving a police officer fatally shooting someone while on duty since 2005.

“To charge an officer in a fatal shooting, it takes something so egregious, so over the top that it cannot be explained in any rational way,” said Philip M. Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green, who studies arrests of police. “It also has to be a case that prosecutors are willing to hang their reputation on.”

In an overwhelming majority of the cases where an officer was charged, the person killed was unarmed, said the analysis, which was based on a wide range of public records and interviews with law enforcement, judicial and other legal experts.

In cases where charges were made, The Post analysis found other factors typically made them exceptional, including, “a victim shot in the back, a video recording of the incident, incriminating testimony from other officers or allegations of a coverup.”

The analysis also found that the majority of the officers, whose cases are resolved, do not get convicted, or when they are convicted or plead guilty, they often get away with little punishment—an average of four years and sometimes only weeks of imprisonment.

The report comes at a time when US police departments are under increased scrutiny over a series of controversial killings of victims, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner on Staten Island, and Freddie Grey in Baltimore--all African Americans and unarmed.

In the latest case, a white police officer was found not guilty Saturday in the fatal shootings of two unarmed African Americans, Timothy Russell and Malissa Wiliiams, in November 2012.

Officer Michael Brelo, 31, was among thirteen officers who fired a total of 137 times at the pair’s car after a high-speed chase.

But only Brelo was charged because prosecutors said he fired 15 rounds even when the vehicle had stopped and the occupants were no longer a threat. The officers had mistaken a backfire noise for gunshots.

HRJ/HRJ

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk