Officials approve $2.5M for body cameras after Ohio shooting
By FARNOUSH AMIRI and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINSDecember 16, 2020 GMT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Officials approved $2.5 million in funding Wednesday to allow the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to purchase body cameras less than two weeks after a deputy fatally shot a Black man, resulting in an outcry by the public on the lack of footage of the encounter.
“Body cameras help provide transparency to the public and can also help vindicate deputies when complaints are made against them,” Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said in a statement.
The Franklin County Commissioners began discussions on funding for body cameras for the Sheriff’s Office following a wave of protests in Columbus over the summer in response to the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Lousiville, Kentucky, at the hands of police.
If there were security cameras in the residential area that captured any part of the incident, that is among many details that haven t been revealed by investigators. Without a body camera and with no witnesses, maybe the truth will never be known, said Michael Miller, a former Franklin County prosecutor.
It s unclear when Meade, who remains on paid administrative leave, will sit down to give a statement and answer questions from the Columbus Division of Police s Critical Incident Response Team, which is investigating the shooting along with the FBI.
Historically, officers involved in fatal shootings in Franklin County have met voluntarily with investigators after consulting with attorneys and preparing a written statement, usually no sooner than a week after the incident.
By Lydia Taylor and Pete Grieve Columbus PUBLISHED 12:30 PM ET Dec. 16, 2020 PUBLISHED 12:30 PM EST Dec. 16, 2020
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COLUMBUS, Ohio U.S. Attorney David DeVillers for the Southern District of Ohio released a new statement Wednesday regarding details of the investigation into the shooting and killing of Casey Goodson Jr.
DeVillers, along with the Columbus Police Department, the F.B.I s Cincinnati office, and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department decided to open an investigation last week after The Ohio Attorney General’s office declined to open a case, saying it wasn t aware of the incident until three days after interviews with witnesses were completed.
Franklin County Approves $2 5 Million For Sheriff s Office To Buy Body Cameras wosu.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wosu.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Incidents like Goodson s . cause me, as a white person, to wonder what would it be like if, instead of being seen by most officers as one of the good guys when they learned I was carrying, I was instead immediately seen as a threat?, Baus wrote. What would it be like if my family literally feared for my life if I was carrying (or even if I was unarmed) and got pulled over on a run to the pharmacy or grocery because I fit the description? Would this change my decision to exercise my Second Amendment right to bear arms?