Prosecutor: No Charges against Officers in Jamar Clark Shooting
The use of force in an officer-involved shooting in Minneapolis has been deemed justified by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced his decision Wednesday to not charge Officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze. Schwarze fired the single shot to Clark’s head, killing him.
Emergency responders were called to a home on the 1600 block of Plymouth Avenue on reports of a domestic assault. Paramedics contacted police after Clark interfered with them trying to provide first aid to the victim.
When police arrived on scene, they say Clark refused to take his hands out of his pockets, despite repeated commands to do so. Officer Ringgenberg drew his weapon and continued the commands. He put his gun back in the holster and grabbed Clark’s right wrist. Officer Schwarze grabbed his left wrist and attempted to handcuff Clark. The handcuffs were dropped during a struggle between them. The BCA recovered open handcuffs in the grass near Clark’s body.
Officer Ringgenberg then took Clark down to the ground on his back and landed on top of him. That’s when Clark reached for Ringgenberg’s gun on his holster.
Ringgenberg told Schwarze multiple times that Clark had his gun and told him to fire. Schwarze pulled the trigger, but the gun did not fire. He pulled the trigger again, hitting Clark in the head. Freeman says there was approximately 61 seconds between the time police confronted Clark and him being shot.
One of the primary issues in this case was whether Clark was handcuffed when he was shot. According to Freeman, forensic evidence established he was not handcuffed. Clark’s DNA was also found on Ringgenberg’s duty belt and the grip of his gun.
Schwarze and Ringgenberg were interviewed separately after the shooting. They both stated they believed without the use of deadly force, that Clark would have gained possession of Ringgenberg’s gun. They both said they feared being shot.
Freeman cleared both officers saying the use of deadly force was necessary to protect them or others from death or great bodily harm.
Meanwhile, Charles Samuselon, Executive Director of the Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union, issued the following statement after the announcement:
Every killing by a police officer is a tragedy and Jamar Clark is no different. Law enforcement kill individuals far too often in the United States with over 1,000 fatal police killings in 2015. At the ACLU, we believe human life should be valued above all else.
Statistics prove that Blacks and Native Americans are killed at much higher rates than their white counterparts. Without compromising public safety or the safety of officers, police departments need to push a model that focuses on de-escalation training, one that allows for more time to assess and better deal with the situation. Law enforcement departments around the world do not kill their citizens at the rate we do in the United States.
Law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, there are far too many examples that one can look to that demonstrate instances where police officers should have been charged, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice to name a couple. Our system needs to change so that police who recklessly and unnecessarily kill are prosecuted and held accountable for the deaths that they cause.
We are glad that County Attorney Freeman has published all of the videos and the evidence used in this case. It is important that there is transparency in the process the county attorney used in their decision. However, Jamar Clark was shot within 61 seconds of officers arriving on the scene. It is unsettling that he was shot so quickly. Officers should have allowed for more time to address the situation fully.
The ACLU-MN is working to reform our criminal justice system at all levels. A study published last year by the ACLU showed that Blacks were 8.7 times more likely to be arrested than whites in Minneapolis. The report can be found at www.aclu.org/minneapolis.
