The former Florida Panhandle police officer who shot and killed Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old Air Force service member, earlier this year has been charged with manslaughter and arrested, the Associated Press reported.
State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden's office announced Friday it had filed charges against former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran, 38, for manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 killing of Fortson. The A.P. reported that Duran turned himself in and was booked into jail on Monday.
Fortson was fatally shot after Duran arrived at his apartment complex in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, responding to a call about an alleged domestic disturbance. Duran knocked on Fortson's door, and Fortson opened it while holding a legally owned handgun at his side.
"This decision marks the first step towards justice for the family of Roger Fortson," Benjamin Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney representing Fortson's family, said in a statement to local media. "Nothing can ever bring Roger back, and our fight is far from over, but we are hopeful that this arrest and these charges will result in real justice for the Fortson family. Let this be a reminder to law enforcement officers everywhere that they swore a solemn oath to protect and defend, and their actions have consequences, especially when it results in the loss of life."
The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office initially framed the fatal shooting as self-defense: "Hearing sounds of a disturbance, he reacted in self defense after he encountered a 23-year old man armed with a gun and after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement," a May 4 statement from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office read.
However, body camera footage released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office shows the deputy knocking on Fortson's door and announcing himself several times. Fortson eventually opened the door, holding a handgun at his side. The officer said "step back" and immediately began firing. Fortson only had time to raise his empty hand, palm outward. Three to four seconds elapsed between Fortson opening the door and the deputy firing six rounds at him.
Okaloosa Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal affairs investigation concluded that "Mr. Fortson did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore, the former deputy's use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable."
In fact, Fortson lived alone. His girlfriend told investigators he was in his living room playing video games and on a FaceTime call with her, not arguing, when there was a loud knocking at the door. When the banging continued and got louder, Fortson's girlfriend said he put down his phone and told her he was going to get his gun because he didn't know who it was.
"This tragic incident should have never occurred," Aden said in a statement accompanying the internal investigation. "The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson's actions. Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual."
As I wrote shortly after Fortson's funeral, the tragedy illustrates a problem Reason has written about over and over again: "The government insists that its citizens have a Second Amendment right to own guns and defend their homes with them, but it also insists that it's reasonable for police to respond with deadly force when they're startled by the sight of a gun, or what could be a gun but might be a harmless object, or the knowledge that a gun is nearby, as in the case of Philando Castile."
Furthermore, "warrior-style" police training seminars drill into officers that they could be killed by a suspect at any moment and have to be ready to use deadly force without hesitation.
Duran told investigators that he shot Fortson because Fortson had "aggression in his eyes," and "it is him or me at this point and I need to, I need to act as opposed to react."
Reason recently reported on a New Jersey-based police training company that glorified violence and promoted unconstitutional tactics. After being exposed by a New Jersey government watchdog and banned in nine states, the company declared bankruptcy and relocated to Florida.
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