ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A spokesperson representing the family of Dominique Harris, the 20-year-old who was killed in the shootout with police, is raising concerns along with members of the African Peoples Socialist Party.
They held a new conference this morning with a number demands and grievances.
“We want to demand transparency and accountability and from the beginning that has been lost,” said NAACP member Corey Givens Jr. who identified himself as a spokesperson for the mother of Dominique Harris.
Both the City of St. Pete and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office promised just that during separate news conferences on Thursday. In fact, the Sheriff’s Office investigating the St. Pete Police Department’s shooting is a direct result of protests and what the community has been asking for.
“The use of deadly force task force was formed so we can show that we are being transparent and we’re accountable to the citizens of St. Petersburg,” said St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway.
Thursday, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri laid out in detail what investigators know about what happened. He came right out and disclosed officers fired 50 times, hitting Harris with 38 rounds.
That use of force was one of the biggest complaints from the family of Harris and others concerned about how all this went down.
“It was like a war zone or Grand Theft Auto,” said Givens. “I don’t care what he done. It didn’t constitute him being murdered the way he was.”
The Sheriff explained Harris was surrounded by officers when he pointed a gun out of the car window and shot a 49-year-old undercover detective twice in the midsection. The Sheriff says Harris fired at least four times and St. Pete Police returned fire.
“The officers did exactly as they should have done and what they’re trained to do,” said Gualtieri. “That is to neutralize the threat and to keep shooting until the threat stops.”
The next concern: Why investigators won’t make the names of the officers involved public?
“Release their names! Release their rap sheets! I want to know what they’ve done,” said Akile Anai of the African People’s Socialist Party.
The Sheriff did provide the officers' age, length of service, any disciplinary issues over the past 5 years and if any of the officers had been involved past shootings.
He also released the name of one of the officers involved, a uniformed street cop, but explained the other officers are part of an undercover unit and for that reason their names had to be withheld.
“They remain in an undercover capacity and it puts them in jeopardy. It puts them potentially in harm’s way,” said Sheriff Gualtieri.
Finally, critics say a lot of the questions could be addressed if officers simply wore body cameras.
“If we had a body camera on the officers that were here that day, there would be no question about what happened, what transpired that day, because accountability would be served on both parts. Both on the people and the police who are sworn to serve and protect the people in this community,” said Givens.
The St. Petersburg Police department says they were already in the process of rolling out their body camera program before this event happened.
The first officers will be getting training next week and by early next year every uniformed officer in St. Pete will be equipped with a body camera.
That may not help in this case, but investigators say there is video captured by the nearby store’s security cameras. We’re told that video will not be released anytime before next week.
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