Minneapolis Shooting Was Nothing Compared to Deadly Shooting Involving Police Chief Perez
GoLocalProv News Team and Josh Fenton
Minneapolis Shooting Was Nothing Compared to Deadly Shooting Involving Police Chief Perez
Dozens of shots were fired into the truck, killing the driver and badly wounding a female passenger.
One of the ten officers at the center of the shooting was then-Providence Police Major Oscar Perez.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTToday, he is the Chief of the Department.
The shooting last week in Minneapolis of Renee Nicole Good by ICE officers has once again raised questions about when law enforcement uses deadly force. A series of videos shows Good begin to drive away from officers, and one of the ICE officers in front of the vehicle shot a reported three bullets into the vehicle, killing the mother of three.
GoLocal first asked Perez about the Minneapolis shooting. He said, "And that's why I think here in the police department, I can tell you that we train constantly about de-escalation. De-escalation, especially for all kinds of responses, including those when, unfortunately, sometimes these federal agencies are in our city."
But nine years ago, on the highway, there was no de-escalation.
Go back nearly to February of 2017 and review the deadly shooting on I-95 — similar and different from Minneapolis.
The man shot and killed was not the man police were searching for. The man killed was a man with a record who appeared to be spooked by the police on the highway and tried to elude police.
A chase lasted for several miles, with police believing the driver was Donald Morgan, who, earlier in the day, was being transported by a State Trooper and left unattended in the cruiser. He jumped into the front seat of the vehicle and drove away.
Later that morning, police got a tip that Morgan had gotten into a white pickup truck.
The only problem was that the vehicle the police chased and ultimately fired 40 shots into was driven by Joseph Santos and his friend and passenger, Christine Demers.
SEE SHOOTING VIDEO ABOVE
But police and then-Governor Gina Raimondo closed ranks and defended the shooting.
Two days after the shooting, Raimondo told GoLocalProv New Editor Kate Nagle in an interview at the State House that the shooting of Santos and Demers was justified. Neither were armed. Raimondo said, "It was a justified use of force."
Raimondo said she did not believe that the series of chaotic events needed to be reviewed by an independent investigation.
Santos' Family Heartbroken
GoLocal interviewed the family of Santos just days after the deadly shooting.
Stacey Lee Tessier, the mother of Santos' daughter, told GoLocal that Santos was one of the nicest people she knew.
“He was fun, loving, and would do anything for anyone. Never had a mean bone in his body,” said Tessier in an interview from her home in Florida.
Tessier and Santos are the parents of a 9-year-old Juliana. She was a third grader in Florida at the time of the shooting.
“I still don’t want to believe it was real,” said Tessier.
At first, Tessier told their daughter that her father was in a car crash.
“Then, I told her that the police thought a bad person was in Daddy’s car,” said Tessier.
SEE TIMELINE 2017 OF EVENTS BELOW
Questions About Chase and Use of Deadly Force
The Rhode Island ACLU issued its analysis of the shooting; the five-page report responded to information provided by Providence and State Police at separate news conferences in which they said that their officers acted properly.
“In the absence of additional information, it would be wrong to blame the police for what they did, but it is just as inappropriate for police officials to so quickly conclude that there is no fault by police for what happened either,” said the ACLU’s analysis.
Perez and Others Cleared
A year later, Perez and nine other officers were cleared by a grand jury for their role in the shooting.
Perez says today, "Well, let's clarify. So I was involved in the shooting, right? But, you know, as you know, its deadly force is all based on an objectively reasonable legal standard, right?"
"But that's the legal standard for every police officer that wears a uniform in this nation. It's objectively reasonable. And that includes whatever is in that officer's mind based on whatever he's seen or whatever he observed, whatever he heard," said Perez in defending the shooting on I-95.
Further, he added, "I can't talk about it because it's a litigation, but again, deadly force is used based on objectively reasonable to protect yourself or to protect others when whatever we're being faced with."
The case of Demers versus the City of Providence, the State of Rhode Island, and more than 15 other law enforcement officers continues today.
Step-by-Step How Deadly Police Shooting on I-95 Unfolded
9:00 AM
According to multiple law enforcement sources, an unidentified Rhode Island State Trooper transporting a prisoner stopped to investigate an accident along Route 146.
9:05 AM Estimated
The cruiser was stolen by prisoner Donald Morgan, age 35, who has no permanent address.
“The trooper was transporting the individual to court this morning and came upon an accident scene, and somewhere along those lines, again it's still being investigated, but the suspect somehow from the rear of the vehicle got into the vehicle, the front of the vehicle, and drove the cruiser,” said Rhode Island State Police Colonel Ann Assumpico.
“It's under investigation but I know the trooper did leave the vehicle for a short time,” said Assumpico.
It is unclear why the cruiser was not secured per protocol.
9:30 AM Estimated
The cruiser was recovered shortly afterward when it was found abandoned in Providence in front of a two-family house -- 45 Vineyard.
It is located off of Huntington Avenue and near Route 10 on/off ramps.
When Providence Police and Rhode Island State Police found the abandoned cruiser and sources say they were told by witnesses that the perpetrator -- Morgan -- had escaped with a white pickup truck.
10:30 AM Estimated
A video shot by Courtney Ciavarella on Route 10, shows 42 police cars and SUVs as well as 2 motorcycles on Route 10 traveling at a high rate of speed.
9:30 AM to 10:45 AM
Hundreds of Rhode Island local and State Police fanned across the metropolitan area in search of Morgan who was thought to be traveling in a white pickup truck.
9:30 AM to 10:45 AM
Neither Providence Public Safety nor the RI State Police used social media to inform the public on any of the events unlike the practice in other cities.
In Boston, during the pursuit of the Marathon bombing suspects, police updated the media and the public constantly via social media and specifically, Twitter.
9:30 AM to 10:45 AM
Providence EMA issued the following Tweets:
Police activity around the #Providence place mall. Please avoid the area. Some on/off ramps are closed at this time
— Providence EMA (@PEMA591) November 9, 2017
Road closures- Rte 6 on ramps, downtown Memorial Blvd., Broadway all blocked. Use alternate routes and avoid area. #Providence
— Providence EMA (@PEMA591) November 9, 2017
9:30 AM to 10:45 AM
Four schools in the Bucklin street area were also affected and locked down, but were re-opened.
"What I can tell you is that there were four schools with restricted access this morning in the Bucklin Street area and those restrictions have been lifted -- we've been working with the police," said Laura Hart, with the Providence Public Schools Department, late Thursday morning.
10:45 AM Estimated
A white pickup truck was blocked in on the ramp entering on to I-95 North just outside on Providence Place Mall. The pick up in blocked in by a car that is stopped in front of it and another vehicle to its right.
ACCORDING TO POLICE SOURCES, GOLOCAL SPOKE TO LATE THURSDAY EVENING - A VIDEO WILL BE RELEASED BY POLICE ON FRIDAY THAT SHOWS THAT THE PICKUP CRASHED INTO ADJACENT VEHICLES. THE VIDEO SOURCE IS RIDOT CAMERAS.
10:45 AM Estimated
As approximately ten police officers move towards the vehicle from the rear and the right side, a GoLocal video shows the pickup move forward about three feet and pushes against the car in front of it.
10:45 AM Estimated
Within seconds of the vehicle lunging forward, multiple officers begin shooting. Approximately a dozen shots are fired into the white pickup which was not moving at the time that the shooting began.
10:46 AM Estimated
Directly after the police end shooting, the pickup moves forward into the vehicle in front of it. Smoke appears as the shooting victim, male driver leans against the steering wheel and the wheels spin.
10:46 AM Estimated
After the shooting, approximately eleven bullet holes can be counted in the glass and the metal of the truck.
10:47 AM Estimated
In the video, approximately 50 officers from Providence and State Police can be counted at the site of the shooting.
1:45 PM Approximately
Steve Pare, Providence Public Safety Commissioner; Rhode Island State Police Colonel Ann Assumpico; and Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements held a press conference on the highway near the site of the shooting.
“At about quarter of 11 this morning, we had an officer involved in a shooting resulting in the death of a suspect. We have not positively identified the suspect. There was a second person in that vehicle that was shot and critically injured, she has not been positively identified. She is in the ER,” said Pare.
“We had police officers from Providence and we had troopers from the State Police involved in the shooting, so we had multiple. That's what we are investigating now, so we don’t have a lot of the details,” said Pare.
Pare said at the press conference, “We don’t know if it is related to the earlier theft of a police cruiser, at this point, that is what we are putting together as well."
4:00 PM
Former U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha tells GoLocal, "Don’t know enough about it at this point to say definitively. That said, when I was U.S. Attorney, there was typically contact, and fairly quickly, between police agencies, particularly Providence Police, and federal authorities in the wake of police-involved shootings. Department of Justice policy when I was US Attorney was to wait for state/local review to be complete before deciding whether to do an in-depth federal review absent unusual circumstances. "
7:00 PM Approximately
The website UpriseRI.com published an op-ed, titled, "A Murder by Police in Rhode Island."
The opinion piece reads:
The person shot earlier today by Rhode Island State Police on I-95 was killed NOT because he caused any harm to civilians but because he was believed to be a person that the police designated as a suspect. The person who they were actually looking for was a person who tried to escape custody earlier in the day and stole their cruiser while he was being transported to the courthouse. His initial charges before taking the cruiser were obstruction and possession of a stolen vehicle. READ THE REST HERE
