SARASOTA - Three months after her son was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies, Natasha Clemons hoisted two photos of him at a rally Thursday and shook her head.
“No justice, no peace,” chanted a crowd of about 60 that had gathered at the Newtown Estates gym to push for a new investigation of the shooting of 23-year-old Rodney Mitchell.
The Sarasota County Sheriff's office and the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office have ruled that the shooting was justified.
Sheriff's officials have said they stand by their investigation, and that they hired an outside consultant to review the findings because they wanted to present all the facts.
Mitchell was pulled over for an alleged seat belt violation June 11, but tried to drive away from the traffic stop. He had a suspended license and likely would have been taken to jail.
As Mitchell hit the gas, the SUV he drove headed toward one of two deputies who had approached the SUV, according to the sheriff's office. The two deputies fired out of fear that one of them would be run over, sheriff's investigators concluded.
Clemons, a nurse, says she will never believe it. She wants the deputies to face criminal charges for killing her son. On Thursday, members of the local chapters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference , and the Sarasota-Manatee Black Democratic Caucus joined Clemons in calling for a federal investigation.
“There are huge pieces of the puzzle missing,” Clemons said in an interview. “They are guilty and I will never give up or give in until I get justice.”
By the time the crowd reached a meeting room inside the gym, it had swelled to 100, with a line of people standing that ran around the room and out the door.
They pointed to several inconsistencies in the sheriff's investigation including:
• It started with an alleged seat belt violation. The officer who said he saw Mitchell was not belted was going the opposite direction on U.S. 301 at 9:30 at night. Additionally, Mitchell's driver seat was reclined at a 45-degree angle. After he was shot and the car crashed, his seat belt was on. Deputies say he must have put it on sometime before the officer pulled him over.
• Deputies and a crime scene investigator hired by the sheriff's office say the car was headed at one of the officers. But a 16-year-old cousin of Mitchell's in the front passenger seat says Mitchell turned the wheel to the right, away from the deputies, before he hit the gas.
Additionally, the deputy who initiated the traffic stop had been cautioned before by his supervisors for his judgment regarding traffic stops, arrests and officer safety. Five drivers had filed complaints alleging that he pulled them over for seat belt violations when they were belted.
Local SCLC leader Charles Smith, a Palmetto City Commissioner, told the crowd that evidence of racial profiling is one thing that will attract the attention of the Department of Justice's civil rights division.
The Democratic caucus leaders who hosted Thursday's rally emphasized that it will take time and pressure to convince the federal government to investigate.
“This is how you do it, you pack the room,” said black caucus co-chairman Lou Murray. “We packed it.”
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