Wednesday, August 11, 1999
Police review: Carpenter shooting justified
But officers made several tactical errors
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Carpenter
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McCurley
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Miller
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The third and final city investigation into the March death of Michael Carpenter found that the Cincinnati officers were justified in shooting the motorist.
But the administrative review, released Tuesday, said the officers made tactical errors before and during the traffic stop. Among them:
“The ultimate objective for my police agency is there's never a time when you use lethal force,” Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. said. The chief said that his 1,000-member division can improve training and learn from tactical mistakes.
• Failing to tell Mr. Carpenter to turn off his car's engine.
• Putting themselves in positions of danger.
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WHERE OFFICERS ERRED
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An administrative review of the shooting death of Michael Carpenter found the police officers acted in the interest of public safety but made these tactical errors:
• Officers Brent McCurley and Michael Miller II failed to conduct a thorough investigation when they saw Mr. Carpenter act “suspiciously” in a Northside convenience store.
• Officer Miller failed to tell Mr. Carpenter to turn off his engine when he was pulled over.
• Officer Miller put himself in danger by reaching in Mr. Carpenter's car and struggling while the car was moving.
• Officer McCurley failed to stay in a position where he could closely see what Mr. Carpenter was doing.
• Officer McCurley put his partner in danger when he shot at Mr. Carpenter while Officer Miller was in his line of fire.
Source: Cincinnati Police Division
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The internal investigation, approved by the chief, calls for Officer Brent McCurley, who fired the fatal shot at Mr. Carpenter, to face a hearing that could result in discipline ranging from a reprimand to suspension or even firing. Officer McCurley's partner, Michael Miller II, has since resigned from the force.
But critics say an independent review by the U.S. Justice Department remains important.
“I think it's time to stop justifying officers for killing people when the officers themselves have made horrific mistakes,” said the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil-rights leader and pastor of North Avondale's Greater New Light Baptist Church.
“They were wrong and yet they were justified,” he said. “If they were wrong and they were justified, then where is justice?”
Officers McCurley and Miller pulled Mr. Carpenter over for expired license tags March 19 in Northside. They said the 30-year-old Mount Airy man refused to cooperate, dragged Officer Miller, who had his arm in the car, and appeared to be backing toward Officer McCurley.
The officers have said they thought Mr. Carpenter was reaching for a gun. There was no gun.
Officer McCurley fired nine shots, killing Mr. Carpenter with a bullet to the back of his head. Officer Miller fired one shot that missed.
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WHAT'S NEXT
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• Officer McCurley faces a hearing before a police captain, who will make a recommendation to Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. City Manager John Shirey ultimately will decide whether the officer will be disciplined. Michael Miller II has resigned.
• The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the shooting.
• The Carpenter family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.
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The police internal investigations section, commanded by Capt. Gary Glazier, found that while the two officers acted in the interest of public safety, mistakes included:
• Failure to conduct a thorough investigation of Mr. Carpenter's “suspicious” behavior when they initially spotted him in a Northside Circle K store. Had he provided identification then, the officers would have learned he had two outstanding warrants for his arrest.
• Failure to tell Mr. Carpenter to turn off his engine when they stopped him.
• Officer Miller putting himself in danger when he reached into the car while it was still moving.
• Officer McCurley moving out of a safe cover position; he could not closely see Mr. Carpenter's actions.
• Officer McCurley putting his partner at risk when he began shoot ing while Officer Miller was in the line of fire.
Chief Streicher wanted the administrative investigation to be clear and specific about what went wrong. That's one reason he sent it back for revisions and it took weeks to finalize, he said.
The local Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the union that represents police officers, says the report confirms that the shooting was justified. The FOP's concern is what happens next.
“The statement about tactical errors should be dealt with (through) improved training, not discipline,” FOP President Keith Fangman said. “We should not be disciplining officers who make split-second decisions when they are being dragged by a car, like Officer Miller, or about to be run over.
“Disciplining an officer will cause unnecessary hesitation, which may result in another Pope and Jeter tragedy,” he said, referring to Officer Daniel Pope and Spc. Ronald Jeter, who were killed by a domestic-violence suspect in 1997. “It's time to close the book on this case.”
Instead of closure, the case may be opening more training issues, said Lt. Col. Richard Janke, an assistant chief. He plans to develop a tactics handbook that could help a young police department, most of whose officers have fewer than 10 years of experience.
Some community members who have seen the aftermath of other police shootings are losing optimism that anything will improve.
“Another man was shot because they say they need to get the training in order,” said Urban Waldbillig, an advocate for people with mental disabilities who worked with police after the 1997 fatal shooting of mental patient Lorenzo Collins.
His mental health group, the Consumer Network, has since voted to discontinue training with police, finding that training sessions sometimes resulted in arguments, he said.
Mr. Carpenter's family declined to comment on the investigation.
The next step is for federal inves tigators to look into the Carpenter case.
The last time the Justice Department participated in a Cincinnati shooting investigation was the Collins case, when a federal mediator was called in to help smooth police-community relations.
The local branch of the FBI is reviewing the Carpenter reports from the homicide unit, the Hamilton County prosecutor's office, the city's independent Office of Municipal Investigations and the internal investigation, Cincinnati FBI spokesman Ed Boldt said.
The FBI will forward those reports to the civil-rights section of the Department of Justice, which will decide whether there was a violation of Mr. Carpenter's civil rights, Mr. Boldt said.
Morris Williams, associate director of the Coalition of Neighborhoods, said he holds out hope that a federal investigation will result in something positive.
“If you violated procedures that result in someone's life being taken, there's no way you can justify the shooting,” he said. “The federal investigation should have come sooner.”
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