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Tag: Jonathan Ferrell

  • 911 Call in Jonathan Ferrell Murder Released

    The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department has released the audio recording of Saturday morning’s 911 call that led to the fatal shooting of Jonathan Ferrell.

    The bizarre series of events that sparked the infamous 911 call has caused a nationwide outrage. Ferrell was fatally shot 10 times by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer. Around 2:30am early Saturday morning, police were summoned to, Bradfield Farms, an upscale residential community on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC. Bradfield Farms resident, Sarah McCartney, placed the call to police. The audio reveals the woman frantically screaming insisting that someone is trying to break into her home. At the time, Ferrell was knocking at her door repeatedly.

    When three police officers arrived in response to the ‘breaking and entering’ call, they said that Ferrell ran in their direction. He was initially tasered by one officer, but when the effort waned, officer Randall Kent opened fire. Ferrell was pronounced dead at the scene. It was later discovered that he had been in an automobile accident, and had pried his way out of his car. He was only seeking help because he was injured as a result of the accident. While the officers claim Ferrell ‘charged’ them, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department disagrees with the actions that were taken, admitting that the shooting had no probable cause. Kerrick turned himself in on Saturday shortly after the shooting. He was initially released on $50,000 bond. However, on Monday, the charges came, and all three officers were suspended on paid leave.

    According to CNN, Monday afternoon in another news report, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department announced that Ferrell’s autopsy was complete. The department released this statement: “The evidence revealed that Mr. Ferrell did advance on Officer Kerrick and the investigation showed that the subsequent shooting of Mr. Ferrell was excessive. Our investigation has shown that Officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter.” The investigation specifically uncovered that Kent “fired his weapon 12 times and struck Mr. Ferrell 10 times, resulting in his death.” The police department has charged officer Randall Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter, stating that ‘he had no cause to shoot Ferrell.’ Police chief, Rodney Monroe, also stated that the nature of Ferrell’s initial car accident was ‘pretty serious.’

    Kerrick appeared in court on Tuesday. University Herald reported that although he did not offer any comment following appearance, his defense attorney, Michael Greene, stated that Kerrick’s “actions were justified on the night in question.”

    Jonathan Ferrell was a 24-year-old, former football player at FAMU. He was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

    Image via WUSA9

  • Randall Kerrick: NC Police Officer Charged with Manslaughter

    Around 2:30 AM Saturday, 24 year old Jonathan Ferrell approached the nearest house and started knocking on the door “viciously”. Ferrell had wrecked approximately .5 miles down the road and stopped at the nearest house to ask for help. The woman at home approached the door, expecting her husband to be returning home from work. When she saw Ferrell, the woman panicked and called police.

    When the police arrived on the scene, Ferrell ran toward them, presumably to tell them what had happened. The police officers told Ferrell to stop, and when he did not, one officer fired a taser toward Ferrell and missed. Cue Randall Kerrick. Upon his fellow officer’s failure to bring down the suspect, police officer Randall Kerrick decided now would be a good time to become a hero and fire 12 bullets at Ferrell – 10 of which struck home. Ferrell was pronounced dead at the scene.

    It took a total of 19 hours for police to investigate and hand down a sentence. Kerrick has been charged with voluntary manslaughter. Lance LaRusso, a current attorney and former police officer, says that the quick turnaround for the sentencing of a police officer is unusual: “There are a couple of reasons why police take their time. First of all, it takes time to develop things like the toxicology report to determine what happened. You have to wait until daylight to reconstruct the crime scene. You have to interview all the people involved. And the officer is given the opportunity to decompress before making a statement.”

    However, Charlotte police say that there is good reason for the quick sentencing: “The fact that Officer Kerrick discharged his weapon and that Mr. Ferrell was unarmed were some of the factors included in the decision to charge Officer Kerrick with voluntary manslaughter.” The Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department also released a statement in which they stated “The shooting of Mr. Ferrell was excessive. Our investigation has shown that Officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter.”

    Despite their apparent cooperation and expediency in regards to giving Kerrick his just due, the NAACP and Ferrell’s attorney, Chris Chestnut, believe that the only reason for such diligence is due to the recent events surrounding Trayvon Martin: “Trayvon Martin was a recipe for what not to do,” stated Chestnut.

    Chestnut and the NAACP also believe that the events transpired because of the inherent racism which still exists in the United States.”Any day in this country, an African-American man can be killed for no reason by the people who are supposed to be protecting him. That’s not an anomaly in this country. They’re never given the benefit of the doubt, and that has to change,” stated the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP. Chestnut also released his own statement concerning the issue of race in this case: “The officer is white, Mr. Ferrell is black. This might be more of a reflection of where we are as a country.”

    Racism has seemed to be a hot-button issue this year, which is ironic considering this is the 50th anniversary of MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. First, we had the issue concerning Trayvon Martin. We then had the issue in which Riley Cooper made some racist statements at a concert. This weekend, we had the controversy surrounding Miss America being of Indian descent. And now this atrocity. Now seems to be the time for us to all sit down and have a national discussion concerning race, but America still seems to believe that race isn’t an issue. However, we all know that the only colorblind person is Stephen Colbert.

    Image via YouTube