Lawyer: Body cam showed no threats as police killed boy
MARKSVILLE,
La. (AP) -- A police body camera recorded the father of a
6-year-old autistic boy with his hands up and posing no threat as police
fired into his car, severely wounding the motorist and killing his son,
the man's lawyer said Monday.
"This was not a
threatening situation for the police," said Mark Jeansonne, an attorney
for Chris Few, who remained hospitalized and could not attend Monday's
funeral of his son, Jeremy Mardis.
Derrick
Stafford, 32, of Mansura, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, of Marksville,
were ordered held on $1 million bonds Monday on second-degree murder and
attempted second-degree murder charges, Jeansonne said.
The
lawyer said he hasn't seen the video himself, but its contents were
described during the hearing. Louisiana's state police chief, Col. Mike
Edmonson, said Friday that "it's the most disturbing thing I've seen -
and I will leave it at that."
Few's condition
was improving Monday, but he had not been told as of midday that his son
is dead, Jeansonne said. His stepfather, Morris German, said last week
that Few had bullet fragments in his brain and lung.
Greenhouse
is the son of a top assistant prosecutor for District Attorney Charles
A. Riddle, who recused himself from the case on Monday, calling it "not
good for any of us."
Judge William Bennett set
the officers' bond during a hearing he held inside the jail after
refusing media requests to open the proceedings. No transcripts were
made available, and the judge later issued a sweeping gag order
prohibiting anyone involved in the case, including potential witnesses
and victims, from providing any information to the media.
Investigators
have been reviewing forensics evidence, 911 calls and body camera
recordings, but said little about them even before the gag order.
The
official silence leaves many questions unanswered, including what
prompted the fatal confrontation, and whether anyone else is being
investigated for any crimes. At least two other officers were involved,
authorities said, but their roles remain unclear.
Investigators
have not suggested that race is a factor in the shooting, which may not
fit neatly into a national debate about race and policing. Booking
records describe the officers as African-American; no available records
describe the race of the father and son.
Few, a
boat pilot on the Red River, was on probation at the time of the
shooting after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated in February,
according to court records.
Stafford is a
Marksville Police lieutenant; Greenhouse is a city marshal. Both were on
marshal duty Tuesday night. Initial reports suggested they were trying
to serve Few with a warrant when he fled onto a dead-end road and then
reversed his car in their direction at about 9:30 p.m.
But Edmonson said there was no evidence of a warrant, nor any gun at the scene.
The
officers were moved from the jail in Marksville to a lockup in the
central Louisiana city of Alexandria after Monday's bond hearing, for
reasons no one would explain, citing the gag order.
The
possibility that they could post bond and remain free during the
investigation didn't sit well with some townspeople who gathered outside
the jail.
"The same day the boy is being buried," said Barbara Scott. "Shame, shame, shame."
"This child couldn't hurt a fly and his life is gone. I feel justice was not served," added Latasha Murray.
Jeremy
Mardis was by all accounts a happy first-grader at Lafargue Elementary
in Effie, Louisiana, where he attended school after his parents split
and he moved to Marksville, where his father's family lives.
Jeremy
was mourned Monday at his funeral in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where
his mother, Katie Mardis, lives with the boy's sister.
"He
was just a very sweet loving little boy who enjoyed being at school and
enjoyed his friends," said Anita Bonnette, his assistant principal at
Lafargue, where a crisis team was brought in to counsel Jeremy's
classmates and teachers.
