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, the
NAACP, 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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