Officer cleared in boy’s shooting
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007
A West Memphis police officer has been exonerated in the June shooting death of a 12-year-old boy, special prosecutors who investigated the case announced Tuesday at the Crittenden County Courthouse in Marion.
H. G. Foster of Conway said after he and special prosecutor John “Jack” McQuary of Benton held a lengthy investigation and determined that DeAuntae Farrow was carrying a replica of a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol when he was shot, they found insufficient evidence to charge Sgt. Erik Sammis in the boy’s death. DeAuntae’s family has claimed that he was carrying a bag of chips and a soda.
Foster said in an interview Tuesday afternoon, however, that paramedics who tended to DeAuntae found the toy handgun underneath the boy’s body.
“One of the paramedics found the gun when they rolled DeAuntae over and tried to do life-saving measures,” Foster said. “The paramedic actually called one of the officers over and told him an officer had dropped his gun.
“ A review of the investigative file will show the photos taken at the scene the night of the shooting and the absence of any chip bags or drink containers.”
Foster reiterated in a letter to 2 nd Judicial District Circuit Court Judge David Burnett that the toy handgun was found. The letter also summarizes the investigation, which included poring over more than 800 pages of notes and conducting numerous interviews.
Sammis shot DeAuntae twice at 9: 50 p. m. June 22 as the boy was walking to a friend’s house near the Steeplechase Apartments on the eastern side of West Memphis.
Sammis and other officers were conducting a stakeout of a convenience store after a number of robberies had occurred in the area. Police said Sammis saw DeAuntae and ordered him to stop. Sammis told authorities the boy pointed what appeared to be a weapon and made “furtive motions” toward him, drawing the officer’s fire.
“The shooting and the death of DeAuntae was a tragedy,” Foster said Tuesday morning during a news conference in Marion. “It was a horrible, horrible thing for his family, his friends, for the people that supported him, for the town of West Memphis, for every human being who walks the planet.”
But both Sammis and his partner, officer Jimmie Evans, thought DeAuntae made a “threatening gesture” with the handgun, Foster indicated in his report.
Foster and McQuary were appointed as special prosecutors in July after 2 nd Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Brent Davis of Jonesboro asked to be recused from the case. Davis said his relationship with the West Memphis Police Department in the past could be perceived as a conflict of interest.
Foster wrote that additional evidence, including contradictory statements from witnesses provided by Memphis attorney Javier Bailey, who is representing Debra Farrow, DeAuntae’s mother, didn’t “appear to adequately contradict the vast weight of the evidence.”
He did say prosecutors would receive any credible, new evidence that appears and evaluate it for any further action.
Debra Farrow couldn’t be reached for comment. Representatives of the Memphis National Action Network, a group led by the Rev. Al Sharpton that advocates civil rights, said Farrow was “devastated” by the results of the prosecutors’ investigation.
Sharpton attended DeAuntae’s July 1 funeral at the West Memphis Civic Center and urged those in attendance to seek justice over the shooting.
The shooting sparked racial tensions in the Crittenden County town of 27, 666. Stephen Chitman, pastor of the Second St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in West Memphis, urged blacks to boycott all West Memphis businesses as a show of support.
Police said at least three buildings near the apartments where DeAuntae was shot were set on fire in protest in July. No one was injured in the blazes.
“Many people have been affected by this terrible event and feelings and emotions have understandably run high,” Foster wrote in his report. “The shooting... was a tragedy of the highest order. It does not, however, present a prosecutable criminal case under the laws of the state of Arkansas.”
Earlier this fall, the U. S. Justice Department announced it found no violation of DeAuntae’s civil rights.
Debra Farrow has filed a civil-rights lawsuit against West Memphis and its Police Department.
In a prepared statement, Police Chief Bob Paudert thanked the prosecutors and Arkansas State Police detectives who investigated the shooting.
“We are certain that the efforts made by the... investigators and the special prosecutors will be critical in the upcoming months in uncovering the facts surrounding the death of DeAuntae Farrow.
“ We would like to continue to extend our condolences and sympathy to the Farrow family as well as the officers involved in this unfortunate event, especially as they proceed through the holiday season,” Paudert said in the release.
He declined to comment further on the case.
A spokesman for the Police Department said Sammis will remain on paid leave until an internal investigation can be completed. Information for this story was contributed by The Associated Press.
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