More than three months after a US Air Force aviator was shot down by a Florida sheriff’s deputy, his family and their attorney are demanding that prosecutors decide whether to file charges against the former lawman.
At a news conference Friday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump questioned why the investigation has taken so long, noting that the shooting of Senior Airman Roger Fortson was caught on the Deputy Chief’s body cam video.
He said that “for black people in America, when they delay, delay, delay, it tells us they’re trying to sweep it under the rug.”
“It’s on video you guys,” added Crump. “It’s no mystery what happened.”
Fortson, 23, was killed on May 3 by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The airman opened the door to his apartment while holding a gun pointed at the floor and was killed within seconds, body camera video showed.
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden Duran kickedand said his life was never in danger and he should not have fired his weapon.
An investigation by the sheriff’s office of internal affairs found that Fortson “did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore the former deputy’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable.”
On Friday, Crump said his team has been told authorities will make a decision on charges on August 23.
“Mark your calendars, brothers and sisters, mark your calendars,” Crump told supporters gathered for the news conference in a church sanctuary in Fort Walton Beach.
The Aug. 23 date came from a senior official in the state attorney general’s office, Crump said. Neither State’s Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, who oversees the district, nor her staff responded to requests for comment Friday.
Fortson, who was from metro Atlanta, was stationed at Hurlburt Air Force Field in the Florida Panhandle. At his funeral outside Atlanta in May, hundreds of Air Force members wore the blues filed past his coffindraped with an American flag.
Now Crump and the family want the former deputy to be prosecuted.
“To the state’s attorney, you have everything you need,” Crump said. “The only question is, will you?”