drey's Blog

FICER KILLED 21-YEAR-OLD DURING PURSUIT LAST WEEK

 

Community questions police handling of shooting

 

Organization seeking independent inquiry

 

CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR.

 

cwootson@charlotteobserver.com

 

 

Aaron Quentin Winchester

 

Hours after Aaron Winchester was buried Tuesday, a Charlotte community demanded answers about why a police officer shot the 21-year-old in the back last week.

 

Also Tuesday, the National Action Network led by civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton, asked to meet with outgoing police Chief Darrel Stephens. The organization wants to conduct its own investigation into the shooting, and a law firm for the family has already interviewed some eyewitnesses.

 

At 6:30 p.m., more than 50 residents of the Lockwood Community directed questions, frustration and, at times, rage at 20 police officers gathered at a meeting just north of uptown.

 

One woman used the word "assassinate" in referring to the May 20 shooting. Several people wondered aloud whether Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers could objectively investigate one of their own.

 

Another said he felt misled by an official police statement that didn't reflect what some neighbors said they saw.

 

Sandy Hoagland, who held a copy of the police statement in the air as he talked, said he felt it was written by "someone trying to paint a picture and give people a way out."

 

An Observer article reported last week that some eyewitness accounts conflicted with what police said happened. The department has said it stands by its original statement.

 

At Tuesday's neighborhood meeting, police didn't release more information on the shooting, saying they didn't want to jeopardize the ongoing investigation. At first, officers' responses to the Lockwood community's questions didn't stray from basic talking points. They said a shooting-review board would determine whether Officer David Jester remains a Police Department employee. They said witnesses of the shooting should call Crime Stoppers.

 

But as the meeting stretched to two hours, residents continued pointing accusatory fingers, and officers' emotions began to show.

 

"There is sadness on both sides," said homicide Detective Gary McFadden, who is helping to investigate the case. "We do not want to take anybody's life, as much as you may not want to believe that. ... It frustrates me because we go through this, and when we walk through those doors tonight, our phone will not ring. When we are at the next homicide, you will not be there."

 

The meeting showed the raw nerves of a community that has seen two police shootings this month. And last week's shooting was the second time since November that a young, black man was shot in the back by a pursuing police officer, a point not lost on Lockwood residents.

 

Winchester's family has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to independently investigate the shooting, an option afforded them by state law.

 

Winchester, who lived off Beatties Ford Road, ended up in the Lockwood neighborhood May 20 during an argument with the mother of his son.

 

The car they were riding in hit a pole on Dalton Avenue, near North Graham Street. Someone called 911, and at some point Winchester ran into the neighborhood.

 

Officer Jester stopped his patrol car and approached Winchester on foot to question him about the wreck and the argument.

 

Two witnesses say that after a brief conversation, the officer attempted to search Winchester. That's when Winchester hitched up his baggy blue jeans, they said, and ran west on Sylvania Avenue toward Graham Street.

 

Police say Jester yelled commands at Winchester, then fired four shots after Winchester pulled a gun from his back pocket and began to turn. Police say they found a silver pistol next to Winchester.

 

All five witnesses interviewed by the Observer last week recounted a brief chase before Jester fired multiple shots. None of them recalled seeing Winchester pull a gun or turn toward the officer.

 

If you ask me, This fool should of never ran if he had nothing to hide! Now I Aint saying no police should ever shoot folk in the back if they life aint in danger, But again why did this fool run? I hope this teach folk a good lesson, Don't run from the police if you got nothin to hide. It better to say you inoccent after you do what the police ask of you rather then try to explain you inoccent after your butt got shot for running from the police is what I say.