7-year-old girl killed in Detroit police raid

[240 is Back]

what the fuuuck... that cop belongs in prison, if that video is correct.  what, he got rattled and just fired?  Does hs have a history of this shit??

Damn

[tonymctones]

that cop is in trouble if its true...that article says that the suspect was apprehended in the upstairs apartment  so they had a murder suspect in their house...

[Skeletor]

There were more articles concerning the case but some people seem to have made up their minds about it.
Still many new facts surfacing (and many others that we'll never learn).


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Last Updated: May 17. 2010 8:02PM
Fieger: Video challenges police account in fatal shooting
Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News

A video account of the police raid that ended in the slaying of a 7-year-old Detroit girl shows that the deadly gunshot was fired while officers were still outside the home, said lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, who represents the girl's family.

Fieger said the video, the source of which he would not identify, contradicts police accounts of the raid in which the girl was killed by a bullet from an officer's gun. He said he plans to file wrongful death lawsuits against the police in federal and state courts on Tuesday.

The Detroit Police Department confirmed that a film crew for the Arts & Entertainment network reality TV show "The First 48" accompanied police on the raid. Fieger would not comment on whether that was the source of the video, but an earlier legal representative of the family said that the presence of the crew influenced the police execution of the raid.

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Fieger's assertions, made in a press conference, came on a day of rapid-fire developments in the death early Sunday morning of Aiyana Jones, 7. As Mayor Dave Bing urged residents to "pull together" to deter crime in the wake of a violent spree, the Wayne County prosecutor said she's asked the State Police to investigate the fatal shooting at the request of the Police Department.

Fieger said the video shows the shot that killed Aiyana Jones, 7, was fired within a "millisecond" of police tossing a flash grenade into the home. The device is sometimes used to momentarily distract or disorient potential targets of a raid. The grenade became the subject of criticism from some in the community today.

Police originally said the shooting occurred while an officer and Jones' grandmother were wrestling over the weapon, then said it might have occurred when the two collided inside the home.

"That's a complete and utter falsehood," Fieger said. "It's not an accident. It's not a mistake. There was no altercation."

In viewing the video, which lasts 3 1/2 minutes, Fieger said he could hear the shot being fired but couldn't see it.

"The pictures don't lie," he said. "It demonstrates conclusively, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what happened in this case."

Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the attorney should share whatever evidence he has with police.

Godbee said police would eventually investigate the tactics it used during the raid, but first wanted to focus on learning exactly what occurred during the shooting.

"We understand there are community confidence concerns surrounding an incident of this magnitude," he said during a press conference. "This is not about egos. This is about getting to the veracity of the truth, finding out what happened."

Fieger criticized other parts of the raid, saying police had a search warrant for the wrong home. He claimed the police didn't receive a warrant for the upper-level apartment, where the target of the raid resided, until after the incident.

He said the victim and her grandmother were sleeping on the same couch, with their heads resting on different ends. The flash grenade landed on the little girl, he said.

Police had been seeking a 34-year-old suspect in Friday's slaying of 17-year-old Southeastern High School student Jerean Blake, who was gunned down outside a liquor store near the corner of Mack Avenue and St. Jean. Police said they made an arrest, but have not said if he was arrested in the raid on the downstairs or upstairs apartment.

An Oak Park attorney who earlier had said he was representing the Jones' family was surprised to learn about Fieger's involvement.

Karri Mitchell, who had spent much of Sunday with the family, also was surprised by how quickly the lawsuit was being filed. He said earlier today that the family wasn't thinking about taking legal action.

"The baby hasn't even been buried yet," he said.

He declined further comment.

"It's Fieger's case now," he said.

Aiyana Jones was sleeping on a couch when she was struck in the neck/head area during the police raid at about 12:40 a.m. Sunday at a two-story duplex in the 4000 block of Lillibridge on the city's east side.

Both the Detroit police and the Michigan State Police are now investigating Sunday's shooting.



http://www.detnews.com/article/20100517/METRO/5170374/Fieger--Video-challenges-police-account-in-fatal-shooting
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If what Fieger said about the warrant is true then the situation would get very complicated for the police.

[tonymctones]

In viewing the video, which lasts 3 1/2 minutes, Fieger said he could hear the shot being fired but couldn't see it.
"The pictures don't lie," he said. "It demonstrates conclusively, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what happened in this case."

what??? so he the video doesnt show it?

to many opposing statements coming out...they had a search warrant for both apts/they didnt, the suspect was apprehended in the families apt/he wasnt, there was an altercation/there wasnt...I think we need to wait until the facts come to the surface...

[Dos Equis]

Family of Michigan child killed in raid sues police
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 18, 2010 1:45 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Calling law enforcement accounts "absurd," a Michigan attorney sued police Tuesday in the death of 7-year-old girl killed during a raid in Detroit.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said members of the Detroit Police Special Response Team acted out of line when they conducted a raid on the family home of Aiyana Jones, who was severely burned and then killed by an officer's bullet. She died Sunday.

"This type of activity by a police force is unacceptable in America," Fieger said at a news conference in his office. "What is equally unacceptable is the cover-up that has occurred."

Fieger filed both state and federal lawsuits alleging gross negligence, a violation of civil rights and a conspiracy to cover up the violation of civil rights.

Detroit Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee has said that preliminary information indicated that officers approached the house with a search warrant for the girl's uncle in connection with the shooting of a high school student Friday.

Godbee said the officer's gun discharged accidentally inside the home after an altercation and physical contact with the girl's grandmother, Mertilla Jones.

Jones denied such an altercation Tuesday. Fieger said he plans to file another lawsuit for false arrest and accused the police of covering up their own mistakes by blaming the family.

Fieger said videotape of the incident shows that the shooting was not accidental. In an interview Monday, he told CNN affiliate WDIV that a crew was filming the raid for the A&E network's show, "The First 48." The program documents police investigations in the first 48 hours after a homicide.

Tuesday, Fieger recounted the events shown on the video that he said led to the girl's death. At times, he had to pause, his voice drowned out by sobbing family members.

Fieger said officers tossed a smoke bomb -- described by police as a "flash bang device" to distract occupants -- into the house, severely burning Aiyana, who was on the couch in the front room with her grandmother. She was then struck in the neck by a bullet fired from outside the house, he said.

Godbee has said he doesn't know how Fieger saw the video, according to WDIV.

"If Mr. Fieger has access to anything that would be evidence in this case, he should, as an officer of the court, get it immediately to the Michigan State Police, which will be investigating," he said in a statement.

Fieger said the police and the city owe apologies to the family, especially to Mertilla Jones for trying to blame her for her granddaughter's death. He said officers need to be held to account just as anyone else would.

"The people of the city of Detroit have got to believe the police will protect them, and not kill them," Fieger said.

"This is an opportunity to come together, not to tear us apart," he said. "Apologize now and we can start the road to healing."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/18/detroit.police.shooting/index.html?hpt=T2