Aaron Dean Charged with Murder in Killing of Atatiana Jefferson
Body camera footage of Aaron Dean moments before the shooting of Atatiana Jefferson
The former police officer involved in the killing of Atatiana Jefferson was arrested and charged with murder on the same day he resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department.
Police declined to say whether Dean was arrested by a Fort Worth officer or if he turned himself in. The department’s major case and internal affairs units were “working diligently to conclude the criminal administrative investigation” into the shooting, said Sgt. Chris Daniels.
“We value the trust that we’ve had in our community, we will continue to build that trust,” Daniels said. “To the citizens and residents of our city, we feel and understand your anger and disappointment.”
Dean was served a written administrative complaint Sunday, placed on detached duty and stripped of his badge and firearm, interim Police Chief Ed Kraus said. He resigned Monday.
“My intent was to meet with him today to terminate his employment with the Fort Worth Police Department. However, the officer tendered his resignation this morning before we met,” Kraus said.
If Dean had not resigned, he would have been fired for several policy violations, including the department’s use of force and de-escalation policies, and unprofessional conduct, Kraus said.
The department has presented a preliminary case to the FBI to review the officer’s actions for possible civil rights violations, Kraus said.
“None of this information can ease the pain of Atatiana’s family but I hope it shows the community that we take these incidents seriously,” he said.
Dean was hired in August 2017 and commissioned as a licensed officer in April 2018, Kraus said.
Numerous reports state Dean made bail and is awaiting his next court appearance.
Things that stand out.
A) Kraus said Dean has been uncooperative with investigators and has not answered their questions. (wiki).
B) Dean was hired in August 2017 and commissioned as a licensed officer in April 2018
So… the department is not covering him?Report
They will and I still give him a fighting chance at acquittal. However if he isn’t it will be a much, much bigger sign that the tide is turning than the Guyger case. Body cam could be very important as to whether he’ll risk a jury.Report
I agree with this. The Guyger case was an example of everything being effed up. She went into an apartment that wasn’t hers and shot the guy who lived there. She may have been a cop, but she was off-duty.
In this case? He was on duty. He was on a call.
I’m no fan of Qualified Immunity… I mean, I suppose I would have liked the idea *IN THEORY* before I ever saw it applied, but, in practice, it seems to be applied in crazy ways that make me say “wait, you were going to use QI to cover for *THAT*?” and that makes me a fan of exploring what would happen if we got rid of it entirely.
With that out of the way, given how I have seen QI applied in the past, I don’t see what makes this act particularly different from other QI-covered bullshit acts done when cops were in uniform, on the clock, and did something that they knew would be illegal if a non-cop did it.Report
Is he Michael Slager, or is he Philip Brailsford? Time will tell.Report
I’m still waiting for the Union (or other defenders) to go on about how he must have been in fear for his life, or he gave her plenty of time to process and obey his simple command, or how his elite training allowed his to perceive that she was going for a gun…
Etc.Report
I’m sure he was in fear for his life. That’s why I’m expecting QI to apply.Report
Yeah, there is still plenty of time for the relevant actors to make their noise here. How it plays out, whether like the Guyer case, or like the Baltimore “rough riding” incident remains to be seen.Report
We didn’t figure out what happened in Baltimore, even down to “who”, “what”, or “when”. We don’t even know he had a rough ride.
Here we know she was shot and who did it. We have some idea of the surrounding situation.Report
Good point. I was mainly thinking of the overall sense of justice that prevails. The sense that leads to all of the things you mention.Report
“During the journey, Gray somehow fractured three vertebrae, injured his voice box and severed 80 per cent of the spine from his neck. The police claim they did not do anything.”
Uh huh.
https://frontline.thehindu.com/world-affairs/brutal-in-baltimore/article7193458.eceReport
Marilyn Mosby made statements for which she had no evidence. Former Baltimore Prosecutor Page Croyder wrote an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun in which she described Mosby’s charges as reflecting “either incompetence or an unethical recklessness”. Croyder said that Mosby circumvented normal procedures “to step into the national limelight”, and that she “pandered to the public”, creating an expectation of a conviction. (wiki) Furthering her ethical adventure there are allegations she repeatedly withheld evidence from the defense lawyers.
Was Gray injured before he got in the police van? He was limping before he got into the van and needed to be lifted up, however we don’t have strong evidence that the three cops who arrested him beat him, much less to that degree.
If it was after he was in the van, did he get a “rough ride”? There was another criminal in the car with him and he claimed there wasn’t a problem. What photography we’ve got doesn’t show it.
If he didn’t have a broken back when he got into the car and was faking an injury, then we’re into him deliberately injuring himself and taking it too far territory.
So we have three conflicting theories and two different sets of police. Your quoted statement is backing theory #2, but what Marilyn Mosby did was to charge everyone with everything and hope she found enough evidence to convict someone of something. She got one juror on one trial to vote to convict.
So again, we didn’t figure out what happened in Baltimore, even down to “who”, “what”, or “when”. This isn’t “can’t prove legally” this is “we’re not sure what happened”.Report
So today’s reporting is that the dispatcher sent them on an open door check, which is another way of saying a suspicious burglary not a true welfare check. This is alleged to account for why the officers didn’t go to the front door or identify themselves initially. It makes the case much more confused, and points to a systemic process problem in the Fort Worth PD that isn’t being addressed.Report