Attorneys and the family of a 22-year-old Fairfield man killed by police at a Beavercreek Wal-Mart Aug. 5 accused a special prosecutor of being biased in favor of police when he presented the case to a grand jury a day earlier.
Attorney Michael Wright said he came to that conclusion after watching Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier's press conference to discuss the grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Sean Williams and Sgt. David Darkow.
"It was like he was defending the officers," Wright said of Piepmeier's explanation of the case to media.
"Special Prosecutor Piepmeier's press conference shows clearly that he presented this case like he was defending the officers rather than prosecuting on behalf of this family. Rather than advocate for the constitutional rights of John Crawford, Attorney General (Mike) DeWine and Piepmeier made excuses for these officers' actions and stated the officers' actions were reasonable."
Wright said the family will continue to press the U.S. Department of Justice to thoroughly investigate whether Crawford's civil rights were violated. The justice department announced yesterday that they had agreed to an independent probe of the shooting.
Wright said he also was trying to obtain the investigative file from Beavercreek Police and DeWine's Bureau of Criminal Investigation to determine if the family may sue.
Crawford's father, John Crawford Jr. said he wants a murder conviction against Williams, who fired the fatal shots at his son. Crawford Jr. said he's not interested in the money that could be gained from a wrongful death suit.
He said his son was "shot on sight" by an "impulsive" officer who failed to follow protocol and evaluating if Crawford posed a threat to them or anyone else.
"(Piepmeier) himself said John Crawford did not commit any crime, that John Crawford did nothing wrong. If that is the case, why is he not here with us?" Crawford Jr. said of his son.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that he is turning the investigative files over to the U.S. Department of Justice for a civil rights review. The federal government had been monitoring the case.
Piepmeier told the media Wednesday the Greene County grand jury in Xenia found the police were justified when they shot John Crawford III as he walked around the store holding a pellet gun and talking on his cellphone.
A 911 caller reported Crawford was waving what appeared to be a rifle in the store and that it looked as if he was loading it and pointing it at children.
Police said he didn't obey commands to put down what turned out to be an air rifle he apparently had taken off a shelf.
"That was really the question for this jury," Piepmeier said at a press conference in Xenia. "Was the officer reasonable to think himself or someone else would receive physical harm?"
"The law says police officers are judged by what is in their mind at the time," he said. "You have to put yourself in their shoes at that time with the information they had."
Yet, the surveillance of the shooting that was synced with sound from the 911 call, showed an officer firing at Crawford almost immediately after yelling something at him.
"Those officers have a duty to evaluate what action they can take before they use lethal force," said Wright's law partner, Richard Schulte. "There was no evaluation here. (Crawford) had no opportunity to do anything. If a second went by, it was a long time in that video tape and everybody can see it."
Piepmeier said grand jurors were asked to consider charges or murder, reckless homicide or negligent homicide. He said he couldn't discuss exactly what he presented to the grand jury because the proceedings by law are secret. He said the two-plus days of hearings included testimony from 18 witnesses and hours of audio and video recordings. Piepmeier said he tried to be as thorough as possible.
He called the shooting a "perfect storm of circumstances." If one of them had failed to occur, Crawford would be alive, he said.
First, the pellet gun was out of the box and on a shelf. Crawford picked it up and aimlessly walked around the store. The gun resembled an automatic weapon. A 911 caller who was familiar with guns called dispatch.
"He's trying to be a good citizen reporting the best he can what he is seeing," Piepmeier said.
Crawford's attorneys and video footage suggest that 911 caller exaggerated Crawford's actions with the pellet gun.
Officers who had been trained in responding to active shooters only two weeks earlier showed up. They were trained at the state police officer's academy to be aggressive, Piepmeier said.
Crawford, who was on his cellphone, was distracted by the call and probably not even paying attention to what he was doing.
"No officer wants to be in a situation where they are putting their lives on the line and they possibly have to take the life of someone else," Piepmeier said.
Crawford's family says the shooting was not justified and asked federal authorities to investigate and determine whether race was a factor. Crawford was black. The officers are white.
In a prepared statement on Wednesday, the family said they were disappointed, disgusted and confused by the grand jury's decision.
DeWine said that all investigative files will be shared with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ohio Governor John Kasich said he thought a review by the justice department was appropriate.
Kasich released this statement:
"After talking with the Attorney General and watching the video myself, I agree with his decision that a review by the U.S. Department of Justice is appropriate. This is a tragedy for the Crawford family and I share the concern of many in the community that this matter must be handled with the utmost seriousness and respect. I've consulted with local leaders, including leaders in the African American community, and I applaud the example they have set of calm, restraint and patience."
A grand jury in Missouri is going through the same motions to decide whether Ferguson police should be charged in the shooting of teenager Michael Brown.
Officers rarely face criminal charges for use of force. Enquirer research found that only one local officer has been charged in a shooting since 2001. He was acquitted.
Beavercreek police officials have said the shooting was the appropriate use of force to protect other customers in the store.
Michael Wright, an attorney representing Crawford's family, told the Enquirer the family expected Piepmeier from Hamilton County to "vigorously pursue a criminal indictment" against Beavercreek Officer Sean Williams.
"It is the job of the special prosecutor to represent the citizens of Ohio, including the families of murder victims, and the Crawford family deserves justice in this case," Wright said. "We informed Mr. Piepmeier that we expect him to prosecute this case in the same manner he would if he was seeking an indictment against a person who shot a police officer."
"Anything less than an indictment would be a tremendous disappointment," Wright said.
'The final analysis is that my son was murdered'
Crawford's family insists the shooting was unjustified and that the case has racial undertones. His father has suggested that police would have been more patient and not have fired if Crawford was white.
Authorities said Crawford was walking around the store Aug. 5 with a MK-177 BB/pellet rifle he picked up from an aisle in the sporting goods section. He was pronounced dead at Miami Valley Hospital around 9:25 p.m., shortly after police opened fire at the store.
Crawford Jr., who has viewed a security video of the shooting, said his son was at the store with a female friend to pick up picnic items on the way to a cookout in Dayton. The video showed that Crawford casually walking around the store with the pellet gun, which he picked up from a shelf in the sporting goods section, Crawford Jr. said. He said his son was on his cellphone talking to the mother of his two young sons, with his back to police, when he was shot.
Police officials said the responding officers – Williams and Sgt. David Darkow – ordered Crawford to drop the gun but he didn't comply. But Crawford Jr. said there was no reaction from his son, so he couldn't have been given any commands from police before he alleges Williams fired.
"We were waiting to see him menacing, waving this thing in a threatening position with women or children. None of that happened from the footage we saw. He wasn't doing anything. He was just standing there. The final analysis is that my son was murdered," Crawford Jr. told The Enquirer earlier this month.
"All this nonsense of (them saying) 'Put the weapon down' two or three times. There was no reaction from him. There couldn't have been a cadence given."
Police said they responded when a customer called 911, saying a man was waving a gun inside the store. The customer has since retracted the account, according to media reports on the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
