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FBI opens Walker shooting probe

His relatives and others who questioned his death welcome the investigation. The Sheriff's Office says it is cooperating.

By ALEX LEARY
Published May 25, 2005

The FBI confirmed Tuesday it is investigating if Jarrell S. Walker's civil rights were violated when a sheriff's SWAT team leader shot the 19-year-old during a drug raid.

Agents have sent a letter to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office requesting reports involving the April 12 shooting in St. Petersburg, as well as witness statements, photographs, videos, audio recordings, medical records and other material.

"We are cooperating fully with this investigation," Sgt. Jim Bordner, sheriff's spokesman, said Tuesday.

A similar letter has been sent to the St. Petersburg Police Department asking for documents or evidence relating to a search warrant officers executed March 15 at Walker's home on 16th Avenue S.

The Sheriff's Office said that raid, which netted drugs and several handguns, justified the SWAT tactics on April 12, including use of a flash-bang device to disorient people inside Walker's home.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said the city will cooperate with the federal investigation. "If the FBI feels it is necessary to investigate, it's appropriate for them to do that," he said.

On Tuesday, Walker's relatives and others who raised questions about his death and doubt the Sheriff's Office can conduct an unbiased review welcomed the FBI probe.

"This is what we've been asking for, hoping for," said Walker's mother, Wanda Walker. "We wanted an outside agency to look into this. I'm just shocked they did do it, and I'm pleased."

Such reviews are common but prosecutions are rare. In 2003, there were 1,546 FBI referrals for prosecution but only 62 actual prosecutions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Sara Oates, an FBI spokeswoman in Tampa, said that after an initial review of the circumstances, the agency would forward results to the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. She declined to comment further.

Stephen Crawford, a Tampa lawyer and a former federal prosecutor, said the FBI could look at a number of factors, not just whether the deputy who pulled the trigger acted properly.

Agents could be looking into how the department handled the aftermath of the shooting, he said. They look for coverups and "things that just don't look right," Crawford said.

"When the FBI gets after something, you don't know where it will lead," Crawford said. Agents often analyze a department's past shootings as well as those of an individual law enforcement officer to determine if there is a pattern of questionable killings, Crawford said.

"They take it seriously," he said.

In a May 11 letter to the FBI, St. Petersburg NAACP president Darryl Rouson asked for a review of Walker's death. The chapter disagreed with a ruling by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office that the shooting by Deputy Christopher Taylor was justifiable homicide.

"We forcefully ask your office to independently review the facts and findings," Rouson wrote. "There are many in the community who are not satisfied with what has been done so far."

On Monday a sheriff's review panel found Taylor, 33, complied with agency policy and training "as currently written." Sheriff Jim Coats still has to review the report and could suggest policy changes or punishment for Taylor. The deputy said Walker slid to the floor during the raid, appeared to be searching for something under a couch and refused repeated commands to show his hands.

A review of the case by State Attorney Bernie McCabe said Taylor fired twice, striking Walker in the back. Though McCabe cleared Taylor of criminal wrongdoing, he said in a report, "I cannot help but note that this is another relatively young black male who has met his death at the hands of law enforcement in Pinellas County" and urged the Sheriff's Office to review its policy on use of deadly force.

Walker was unarmed, though the Sheriff's Office said a loaded handgun was found nearby. His mother and others say Taylor was close enough to use physical restraint rather than his gun.

"There were 8 officers (there) and you mean to tell me no one could put their gun down and wrestle Jarrell and put handcuffs on him?" Wanda Walker said Tuesday.

Rouson said the NAACP has asked Coats to reassign Taylor, who has been involved in two previous shootings since he joined the force in 1998, to a desk position "so that he is never put in a position of making that type of judgment again."

"Jarrell Walker should be alive and facing a judge or jury to determine his culpability," Rouson said.

He emphasized that he does not condone what Walker, who had a previous drug arrest, was doing in the house or might have been doing. "Death," Rouson said, "is always a risk when you are in the wrong place."

But not everyone was optimistic about the FBI's involvement.

Chimurenga Waller, a leader with the Uhuru movement, pointed to the low prosecution rate of civil rights cases. "We support the demand but we're not going to be taken off course by assuming the FBI would make a ruling that is favorable to the African people."

The Uhurus said they have planned their own court-style hearing for July 24. The group has issued demands that Deputy Taylor, Sheriff Coats, Chief Harmon and McCabe attend.

- Times staff writers Graham Brink and Melanie Ave contributed to this report. Alex Leary can be reached at 893-8472 or leary@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 25, 2005, 00:41:07]