Tuesday, March 07, 2000
Panel: Shooting was not justified
Policy changes called for
BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Fred and Elsie Carpenter welcomed a citizens panel's report Monday that said police should not have shot their son, Michael, to death during a traffic stop a year ago.
But they wondered what good might come of it.
“We're happy about what they said and that they took a real good look at the circumstances,” Mrs. Carpenter said Monday, after a packed meeting at City Hall at which the report was unveiled. “But it just makes me angry that it came after (City Manager John) Shirey made his disciplinary actions. What weight does it carry?”
The report, by the Citizens Police Review Panel, called the shooting of Mr. Carpenter on March 19, 1999, unjustified and called for changes in police policy and discipline regarding use of firearms and traffic stops.
But it follows two other reports — one a city internal investigation, and one by the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office — which ruled the shooting was justified. A separate report by the city's Office of Municipal Investigation called the shooting unjustified and recommended disciplinary action against Officer Brent McCurley, who fired the fatal shot.
In December, Mr. Shirey gave Officer McCurley a written reprimand and ordered 40 hours of retraining for several tactical errors leading to the shooting. He is on active duty.
Officer McCurley and Officer Michael Miller pulled over Mr. Carpenter in Northside for expired license tags. Police say the 30-year-old Mount Airy man refused to cooperate. Officer McCurley began firing when Mr. Carpenter began dragging Officer Miller, whose arm was in the car, and appeared to be backing toward Officer McCurley. Mr. Carpenter died from a bullet to the back of his head.
The seven-member panel has forwarded its 37-page report to Mr. Shirey, who is not obligated to take further action.
Police Chief Thomas H. Streicher Jr. said Monday night that he will consider the panel's recommendations, but won't further discipline Officer McCurley. Officer Miller hs left the force.
“As far as we're concerned, this case has been finished and closed,” he said.
Keith Fangman, president of Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Queen City Lodge 69, was sharply critical of the panel's findings, which contrasted markedly with the findings of the prosecutor and police internal investigation.
“I'll defer to the professional investigators, not the Monday morning quarterbacks,” Mr. Fangman said. “None of these people on the review panel have ever taken one step in our shoes.
“Who are they to judge us?”
The panel's report did not address the shot fired by Officer Miller, but said his failure to ask Mr. Carpenter to put his car in park, turn off the engine and give the keys to police was a significant factor in the escalation of the events that led to Mr. Carpenter's death.
The panel wants the city to develop appropriate discipline for officers who do not follow the use-of-force or firearm policies and methods for disabling a vehicle during a routine traffic stop. They also want rules for discharging a firearm into glass.
The panel found that Officer McCurley created a situation “in which his vision was severely restricted and the trajectory of the bullets fired became unpredictable” when he fired the shots into the car's rear window.
“We consider Officer McCurley's actions not merely unreasonable, but actually reckless,” the report said.
Members of the panel chastised Officer McCurley for firing his gun because they said, in a “high risk” traffic stop, the officer closest to the suspect — Officer Miller — controls the person.
Nevertheless, Officer McCurley, standing between 25 and 34 feet behind the struggling officer and suspect, fired nine shots, two of which hit Mr. Carpenter and sprayed glass on his partner's hand.
The panel also rejected Officer McCurley's assertions that he fired to protect himself from being run over by Mr. Carpenter as his the moved backward, and to protect Officer Miller from being hit by the open driver-side door.
The panel questioned whether the car's backup lights were on, or whether it was traveling in reverse, when Officer McCurley fired.
The panel was created two months before the Carpenter shooting in response to earlier shootings by police officers. The group is empowered to hold hearings, call witnesses or simply review investigations by police and the Office of Municipal Investigations in cases in which police have fired their weapons or police miscon duct is alleged.
The seven members of the panel met for the first time Oct. 18. The members have decided to give all cases in which police fire shots a priority, in chronological order, dating to the Jan. 21, 1999, council ordinance that created the panel.
The panel's review of the shooting included visits to the scene and examinations of city and police investigations, as well as interviews of witnesses from the police and the OMI.
Councilwoman Minette Cooper said she was not surprised by the panel's findings because “there were too many inconsistencies with the story as reported by the authorities.”
“I don't know what will happen with the decision the review panel has made, but I do think the recommendations were well thought out, and should definitely be looked at and considered,” Ms. Cooper said.
Councilman Phil Heimlich said he hadn't read the report, but said Mr. Shirey's decision was fair.
“I thought they examined the facts and the law very carefully. I support the decision the city manager reached.”
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