Bijan Ghaisar was shot five times during a traffic stop in 2017.
By Azi Paybarah
The New York Times
Two U.S. Park Police officers in Virginia were indicted Thursday on state manslaughter charges in a 2017 case in which they fired nine shots at close range into the car of a 25-year-old man, a prosecutor announced.
Each officer was indicted on single charges of manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm, according to the prosecutor, Steve Descano, the commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax County. If convicted, the officers, members of the U.S. Park Police, a unit of the National Park Service within the Interior Department, face up to 15 years in prison, he said.
“Like so many others in our community, I was deeply disturbed by the images we saw on that cruiser video,” Mr. Descano said in a statement. “I wish this could have been done in a faster fashion. However, there is no shortcut to justice.”
The officers were placed on administrative leave after the shooting, a Park Police sergeant told The Washington Post. Mr. Descano said he expected the officers to turn themselves in after the indictment.
In November 2017, what started as a fender-bender turned into a deadly shooting in a matter of minutes. After a brief chase by the police, one of the motorists involved in the crash, Bijan Ghaisar, stopped at a stop sign. Two police vehicles surrounded his car and officers converged. Several shots were fired into his vehicle.
Mr. Ghaisar was shot four times on the left side of his head, and once in his right wrist, one of his family’s lawyers said. He died 10 days later.
Mr. Ghaisar’s actions that night should not “have led to his death,” Mr. Descano said.
The officers have said they acted in self-defense. In 2019, the Justice Department said it would not pursue charges against them because it was unable to disprove the officers’ claim of self-defense.
At a news conference on Thursday to announce the indictments, Mr. Descano said this was a “complex and nuanced case” involving “the careful review of 10,000 pieces of documentary evidence, the chasing down of additional evidence and the conducting of in-person interviews” amid a pandemic.
In a statement, Mr. Ghaisar’s family said: “Our Bijan suffered the most brutal terror and cruelty in his final moments of life. We know this because it was caught on police video and we watched it.”
A video of the shooting was released in 2018 by Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. of the Fairfax County Police Department. Fairfax County officers provided backup during the pursuit of Mr. Ghaisar, but, according to the chief, they did not discharge their weapons >>>
Justice delayed, justice denied
Nevertheless, this is a very good news for Ghaisar's family not withstanding the tragedy/agony that they have gone thru
ByeDon in 2020
When it comes to gun violence, don’t pray vote instead
Black Lives Matter
BDS to deprive the oppressive military of its bullets and bombs to end this illegal and military occupation
The impeached trump is helping to make Russia great again
“The time is always right to do what is right” – Martin Luther King