On Oct. 21, Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau told the media that officers involved in the fatal police shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark would not be charged for misconduct.
Clark died after police shot him during a domestic dispute call in November 2015, per Atlanta Black Star. According to initial reports, eyewitnesses believed Clark was unarmed, shot while handcuffed and did not warrant the excessive use of force inflicted on him.
Last Friday, Harteau said officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze did not violate department procedures. In an exclusive with ABC 5 Eyewitness News, Clark’s adoptive father said he and his wife had no idea there was an internal investigation going on. James Clark believes the police chief is lying about the details of his son’s death.
“They’re lying,” he tells reporters. “It wasn’t no need for them to tackle him to the ground. He didn’t have no weapon … So why was it necessary for them to pull out a gun and shoot him?”
James Clark said he cannot understand why the officers involved were not charged. He rebuts Harteau’s announcement and says race was the determining factor in the case.
“They don’t even believe them Black people [eyewitnesses near the scene of the shooting] … Because they was all Black. But if that had been four or five white people there that said the same thing — what the Black people said — it would be a different story.”
The family plans to file a civil suit because they believe it is their only avenue for justice.
