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Officer should be charged in teen's death, judge says

As a 16-year-old drove erratically on a school campus, the rookie cop shot him. Prosecutors are pondering action on the inquest finding.

DELRAY BEACH - A rookie police officer who shot and killed a teenager driving across a school campus at a dance should be charged with manslaughter, a judge recommended Thursday.

Palm Beach County Judge Debra Moses Stephens said she heard no evidence justifying the killing of 16-year-old Jerrod Miller during three days of testimony from 31 witnesses at a rare public inquest.

Members of Miller's family solemnly embraced after the ruling, but they may wait three weeks or more to learn whether the State Attorney's Office will charge Officer Darren Cogoni.

State Attorney Barry Krischer called for the inquest instead of a closed grand jury proceeding to publicly debate evidence in the racially charged case. Cogoni is white; Miller was black.

The judge's decision is not binding and will be considered along with other evidence in the criminal investigation, said Mike Edmondson, a spokesman for Krischer.

The 23-year-old Cogoni finished police training three weeks before he fired on Miller after the teen drove onto campus for a school dance on Feb. 26.

Cogoni asked to see Miller's driver's license, and the teenager, who did not have one, drove off erratically, scattering students gathered outside the school gym, witnesses said.

Miller had turned away from the gym and was driving through a narrow school breezeway when Cogoni fired his weapon, hitting him in the back of the head.

Cogoni did not appear at the inquest but provided a statement saying he fired to protect bystanders mingling in the path of Miller's car as it headed away from the school gym.

"I really honestly believed at that point there was a large group of people that were going to be run over by this vehicle," Cogoni said.

Investigator Rick Caplano testified that Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents interviewed 33 people and were unable to find anyone who was in the path of Miller's car during the shooting. Cogoni's attorneys maintain that investigators still haven't located everyone who fled the area.

Protest demonstrations are planned for the weekend, despite the judge's ruling, said Josh Smith, the task force chairman for the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:43:11]