Marianne
Diamond Member
The mother of a young black man killed by police while holding an unloaded BB rifle in an Ohio Walmart has accused the officer who shot her son of giving a dishonest account of what caused him to open fire.
Tressa Sherrod said store surveillance footage did not support the explanation given by officer Sean Williams for fatally shooting John Crawford III while responding to a 911 call from another shopper in a suburb of Dayton last month.
Giving her first full interview since the death of her 22-year-old son, Sherrod accused Williams and the Beavercreek police department of âtrying to cover their buttsâ after discovering that Crawford was holding an air gun from a store shelf while he spoke on his cell phone.
âBut itâs not working, because weâve seen the video, weâve read the report â it doesnât match,â Sherrod, 45, told the Guardian during a wide-ranging conversation on Monday.
Williams said in his account of the August 5 shooting that as he approached Crawford, who had been repeatedly accused by the 911 caller of pointing the rifle at people, he feared for his life and the lives of his colleague, Sergeant David Darkow, and customers in the store.
âSergeant Darkow repeatedly yelled âdrop the weaponâ,â said Williams, in a narrative released by Beavercreek police late last Friday. âAfter repeated commands to drop the weapon the male turned to us in an aggressive manner with the rifle in hand. At that time the black male was in a position where he could shoot me or sergeant Darkow.â
Walmart surveillance footage released last week, after a grand jury declined to indict Williams on criminal charges, showed that Crawford â who was still on his phone â was shot from the side while apparently moving to run away from the advancing armed officers.
Footage synced by the FBI with a recording of the 911 call indicated that Williams shot Crawford about one second after he and Darkow rounded a corner into the pet products aisle, where Crawford had been standing for five minutes, occasionally swinging the BB rifle at his side and holding it towards a shelf. The word âdownâ could be heard being shouted in the background of the call moments before Williams fired his two shots.
Crawfordâs mother said the discrepancy between the police report and recordings was clear. âHim reaching for the gun? I didnât see that,â she said on Monday. âHe turned towards them in an aggressive way? I didnât see that. But thatâs what they said in their report.â
A police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Sherrodâs remarks.
Sherrod said she was left furious by the decision of the grand jury in Greene County not to indict Williams. âI was very angry,â she said. âIf they watched the video that everyone else had seen, I just couldnât understand why [the special prosecutors] didnât get an indictment.â
She also expressed dismay over the actions of Ronald Ritchie, the customer whose 911 call and repeated claims that Crawford was pointing the BB rifle at shoppers led police to rush to the store. The synced footage showed Crawford holding the rifle at his side and pointing it to the floor at the time when Ritchie alleged that âhe just pointed it at, like, two childrenâ.
âI have no idea why he made that call,â Sherrod said. âI have no idea why he would do that â why anyone would do that.â She echoed a request made by Crawfordâs father to the Guardian last week for police to investigate Ritchie over the mismatch. âIt pisses me off,â she said. âIâm so upset about itâ.
The US Department of Justice announced last week that it would review the case for potential federal charges following the grand juryâs decision. Asked what would represent justice for her son, Sherrod said: âAn indictment. An indictment for Williamsâ.
She would not rule out bringing a civil lawsuit if no charges were brought. Williams is due to return to desk duties soon and is expected to resume patrol work after the federal inquiry concludes.
Sherrod said Crawford would have been given more of a chance by police if he had not been black.
She said her son had experienced racial discrimination at several points in his life. âHeâs been profiled, heâs been followed, heâs been pulled over in the car for doing nothing,â she said. âHeâs been cursed at, yelled at, manhandled.â
In the light of her sonâs death and the controversial police shootings of several other young black men around the country in recent weeks, Sherrod proposed that police officers be retrained in basic practices, such as âhow to talk to them, to not to be so quick to jump to conclusions just because of someoneâs raceâ.
When her son died, Sherrod was at home in Cincinnati with Leecee Johnson, the mother of Crawfordâs two young sons, with whom he was speaking on his cell phone. Together, she said, they listened to his final moments.
âIt was horrible,â she said on Monday. âIt was horrible. I donât think anyone wants to hear on the phone their child dying, taking their last breath.â
Sherrod complained that she and her family were treated poorly by law-enforcement authorities in the hours after her sonâs death.
âThey wouldnât let us see him when we arrived at the hospital,â she said. âThey really just said that he was in the store, we were told, pointing the gun at people.â She had not been contacted by Beavercreek police and had learned of all key developments in the case from the media, she said.
She said weapons and toy manufacturers should be prompted by the incident to ensure that air rifles were clearly distinct from full-powered weapons. Walmart and other stores should keep realistic-looking BB rifles locked in cabinets, she suggested. Her son picked up the BB gun, which had already been unpackaged, as he wandered the aisles while speaking on his phone.
Sherrod said the past seven weeks had been troubling for John Crawford IV, her one-year-old grandson. Crawfordâs younger son, Jayden, who is about six months old, would never know his father. âItâs heartbreaking,â she said. âTheyâll have pictures, weâll talk about it, but theyâre not going to remember what heâs done with them ... heâs not going to be there to take them to football games, teach them how to play sports or just talk to them, do fatherly things.â
Crawfordâs mother said she would remember her son by his âquirky laughâ and infectious sense of humour. âI miss him being around,â she said. âI miss him saying âmomâ; I miss his phone calls and his text messages; I miss coming home and seeing that he ate all my food. Thereâs a lot of little things I miss about him. I miss his smile. I miss hearing his voice.â
Tressa Sherrod said store surveillance footage did not support the explanation given by officer Sean Williams for fatally shooting John Crawford III while responding to a 911 call from another shopper in a suburb of Dayton last month.
Giving her first full interview since the death of her 22-year-old son, Sherrod accused Williams and the Beavercreek police department of âtrying to cover their buttsâ after discovering that Crawford was holding an air gun from a store shelf while he spoke on his cell phone.
âBut itâs not working, because weâve seen the video, weâve read the report â it doesnât match,â Sherrod, 45, told the Guardian during a wide-ranging conversation on Monday.
Williams said in his account of the August 5 shooting that as he approached Crawford, who had been repeatedly accused by the 911 caller of pointing the rifle at people, he feared for his life and the lives of his colleague, Sergeant David Darkow, and customers in the store.
âSergeant Darkow repeatedly yelled âdrop the weaponâ,â said Williams, in a narrative released by Beavercreek police late last Friday. âAfter repeated commands to drop the weapon the male turned to us in an aggressive manner with the rifle in hand. At that time the black male was in a position where he could shoot me or sergeant Darkow.â
Walmart surveillance footage released last week, after a grand jury declined to indict Williams on criminal charges, showed that Crawford â who was still on his phone â was shot from the side while apparently moving to run away from the advancing armed officers.
Footage synced by the FBI with a recording of the 911 call indicated that Williams shot Crawford about one second after he and Darkow rounded a corner into the pet products aisle, where Crawford had been standing for five minutes, occasionally swinging the BB rifle at his side and holding it towards a shelf. The word âdownâ could be heard being shouted in the background of the call moments before Williams fired his two shots.
Crawfordâs mother said the discrepancy between the police report and recordings was clear. âHim reaching for the gun? I didnât see that,â she said on Monday. âHe turned towards them in an aggressive way? I didnât see that. But thatâs what they said in their report.â
A police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Sherrodâs remarks.
Sherrod said she was left furious by the decision of the grand jury in Greene County not to indict Williams. âI was very angry,â she said. âIf they watched the video that everyone else had seen, I just couldnât understand why [the special prosecutors] didnât get an indictment.â
She also expressed dismay over the actions of Ronald Ritchie, the customer whose 911 call and repeated claims that Crawford was pointing the BB rifle at shoppers led police to rush to the store. The synced footage showed Crawford holding the rifle at his side and pointing it to the floor at the time when Ritchie alleged that âhe just pointed it at, like, two childrenâ.
âI have no idea why he made that call,â Sherrod said. âI have no idea why he would do that â why anyone would do that.â She echoed a request made by Crawfordâs father to the Guardian last week for police to investigate Ritchie over the mismatch. âIt pisses me off,â she said. âIâm so upset about itâ.
The US Department of Justice announced last week that it would review the case for potential federal charges following the grand juryâs decision. Asked what would represent justice for her son, Sherrod said: âAn indictment. An indictment for Williamsâ.
She would not rule out bringing a civil lawsuit if no charges were brought. Williams is due to return to desk duties soon and is expected to resume patrol work after the federal inquiry concludes.
Sherrod said Crawford would have been given more of a chance by police if he had not been black.
She said her son had experienced racial discrimination at several points in his life. âHeâs been profiled, heâs been followed, heâs been pulled over in the car for doing nothing,â she said. âHeâs been cursed at, yelled at, manhandled.â
In the light of her sonâs death and the controversial police shootings of several other young black men around the country in recent weeks, Sherrod proposed that police officers be retrained in basic practices, such as âhow to talk to them, to not to be so quick to jump to conclusions just because of someoneâs raceâ.
When her son died, Sherrod was at home in Cincinnati with Leecee Johnson, the mother of Crawfordâs two young sons, with whom he was speaking on his cell phone. Together, she said, they listened to his final moments.
âIt was horrible,â she said on Monday. âIt was horrible. I donât think anyone wants to hear on the phone their child dying, taking their last breath.â
Sherrod complained that she and her family were treated poorly by law-enforcement authorities in the hours after her sonâs death.
âThey wouldnât let us see him when we arrived at the hospital,â she said. âThey really just said that he was in the store, we were told, pointing the gun at people.â She had not been contacted by Beavercreek police and had learned of all key developments in the case from the media, she said.
She said weapons and toy manufacturers should be prompted by the incident to ensure that air rifles were clearly distinct from full-powered weapons. Walmart and other stores should keep realistic-looking BB rifles locked in cabinets, she suggested. Her son picked up the BB gun, which had already been unpackaged, as he wandered the aisles while speaking on his phone.
Sherrod said the past seven weeks had been troubling for John Crawford IV, her one-year-old grandson. Crawfordâs younger son, Jayden, who is about six months old, would never know his father. âItâs heartbreaking,â she said. âTheyâll have pictures, weâll talk about it, but theyâre not going to remember what heâs done with them ... heâs not going to be there to take them to football games, teach them how to play sports or just talk to them, do fatherly things.â
Crawfordâs mother said she would remember her son by his âquirky laughâ and infectious sense of humour. âI miss him being around,â she said. âI miss him saying âmomâ; I miss his phone calls and his text messages; I miss coming home and seeing that he ate all my food. Thereâs a lot of little things I miss about him. I miss his smile. I miss hearing his voice.â
