A federal court on Monday set a 2017 trial date involving a lawsuit filed by the family of a Walmart shopper Beavercreek police fatally shot last year.
Michael Wright, the Dayton attorney for the family of John Crawford III, the 22-year-old Fairfield man shot in an encounter with police in a store aisle Aug. 5, said they agreed to a Feb. 13, 2017, trial date during a scheduling conference in U.S. District Court.
“It’s a little ways out,” Wright said of the date.
Wright noted that discovery of pertinent information and deposition of witnesses in the case can begin. For the trial date, much depends on the court’s schedule and docket, he said.
The civil lawsuit was filed Dec. 16 in Dayton’s U.S. District Court by Tressa Sherrod and John Crawford Jr., parents of Crawford III.
A Beavercreek police officer shot Crawford III after a Walmart shopper told a 911 dispatcher he was pointing a rifle at other shoppers. Crawford III had been carrying a unpackaged BB-gun that he picked up off a Walmart shelf.
In a response to the suit, attorneys for Beavercreek police Officer Sean Williams — who fired the fatal shots — and Sgt. David Darkow, Chief Dennis Evers and Beavercreek city officials asked U.S. District Judge Walter Rice to dismiss the complaint. Walmart denied that its actions played any role in Crawford III’s death.
Crawford’s parents and Wright have called for a federal civil rights investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has said they are reviewing the case.
Wright expects Carter M. Stewart, the U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, to meet with the Crawford family by the end of this month. He thinks a decision on federal charges may be revealed then.
Contrast of two cities
While the shooting in Beavercreek remains contentious, the local response to the shooting has been largely peaceful, confined to mostly orderly protests and legal actions.
That’s a marked contrast to events in Ferguson, Mo., where another police shooting days after Crawford III’s was followed by riots, property damage and, most recently, Thursday’s shooting of two St. Louis County police officers. On Sunday, Jeffrey Williams, 20, was arrested and charged with shooting the officers during a protest outside police headquarters.
On Aug. 9, a white Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson, shot and killed an 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown, in a public confrontation. Police said Brown attacked Wilson, while others say Brown was trying to surrender when he was shot.
The value of structures in the Ferguson area destroyed in riots after Brown’s shooting amounted to $4.6 million, the St. Louis Business Journal reported in December.
In Dayton, there have been few protests, and those have been mostly peaceful and short-lived. There have been rallies downtown, near the Walmart store and sit-ins at the Beavercreek police station. Though traffic may have been interrupted, most events passed without significant incident.
“There has been nothing like what happened in Ferguson,” Ric Simmons, a professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, said of the Dayton area’s reaction.
Simmons agreed that Ferguson and Beavercreek are different communities. But he noted that in Ferguson, some witnesses said Brown had been trying to surrender with his hands raised when he was killed.
“That image sort of sparked what was going in Ferguson,” he said.
“Ferguson was that perfect storm of … the terrible state of relations between the police and community and then that storyline, that imagery, that persisted for so long,” Simmons said.
Wright said he and Crawford’s family never condoned violence.
“I think myself and the Crawford family have been fairly responsible related to not trying to incite any type of violence or any type of reaction, other than peaceful protests,” Wright said.
He added: “As far as the hurting and the harming of (police) officers, we are way opposed to anything like that, 100 percent. We are in favor of peaceful protests.”
“I definitely think we should learn from what’s going on in Ferguson,” he added. “I would definitely hope events that are transpiring in Ferguson would not make their way to Dayton and Beavercreek, Ohio.”
Positive interactions
Mary Tyler, executive director of the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton, said Dayton community leaders have worked for years to help young people see police officers as “friends” and “resources.” She pointed in particular to a program, called Police and Youth Together, which tries to bring young people and officers together in positive interactions.
“The reason for the different reactions … is that there has been very significant work in the greater Dayton community or the greater Miami Valley in improving police and community relations,” Tyler said.
Thomas Hagel, a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law, said the history of police-minority relations in both communities is likely much different.
“Whoever is the mayor (of Dayton) and the administration, whether black or white, there is a tradition here of reaching out to the black community from the political system, especially law enforcement,” Hagel said.
However, Ruth Thompson-Miller, an UD assistant sociology professor, said any difference between Ferguson and Dayton has been one of a selective media focus.
Media attention in Ferguson has zeroed in on violent interactions with police, while peaceful actions have been ignored or downplayed, she said.
Said Thompson-Miller, “The protests in Ferguson have been peaceful, except for the few instances the media wants to focus on.”
In September, a Greene County grand jury declined to indict Williams in Crawford III’s death. Similarly, a grand jury also declined to indict Wilson in Ferguson in November.
Thank you for reading the Dayton Daily News and for supporting local journalism. Subscribers: log in for access to exclusive deals and newsletters.
Thank you for supporting in-depth local journalism with your subscription to the Dayton Daily News. Get more news when you want it with email newsletters just for subscribers. Sign up here.