John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins, two Dallas policemen, were cleared of any charges and not indicted for fatally shooting mentally disabled victim Jason Harrison in front of his home last June.
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Rogers and Hutchins controversially shot the 39-year-old after originally being called to the Harrison household by Jason’s mother Shirley. Shirley Harrison had sought authoritative assistance to help calm her son down, as he suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Reportedly that day, he was experiencing a particularly difficult episode.
The moment the cops arrived and knocked on the front door, their every move was caught by one of the them wearing a bodycam. Once Jason Harrison (appeared after his mother) outside, he was ordered to drop a screwdriver in his hand. But before he had a chance to acknowledge what was happening, five bullets from Rogers and Hutchins punctuated his body and Harrison was pronounced dead shortly after dropping to the ground. Shirley’s on camera was heard screaming “They killed my child.”
This past March, the surviving family members obtained a copy of the disturbing body cam footage and released it to the media. They were hoping to raise awareness against police brutality and for the lawsuit they had filed against Rogers and Hutchins back in the fall.
Sadly, justice was not served for the unjustified firing. A grand jury made the non-indictment decision just this past Thursday on April 23. As ThinkProgress.org pointed out, for a grand jury to indict a suspect they, “must believe there was probable cause to commit a crime.” Think Progress also interestingly concluded that “police officers rarely face criminal charges in cases involving deadly force, in part because prosecutors who work with the same officers every day have reason not to prosecute their colleagues.”
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Police That Killed A Mentally Disabled Man In Dallas, Were Cleared Of Any Criminal Charges was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
