Some witnesses said Chapman charged Rankin before the shooting. However, the jury declined to indict Rankin on the murder charge after a judge reportedly told them they could convict him on a lesser charge. Across the country, only 74 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter stemming from an on-duty shooting since 2005, according to data from Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminology at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University.
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“What we see over and over in the videos is that the videos contradict the narratives given immediately after shooting by police on the scene and that officers involved in these unjustified shootings are not acting in ways consistent with their training”, he said.
Gregory Provo, the Wal-Mart security guard who reported the shoplifting allegation, testified Chapman never charged at the officer.
The Virginia trial coincides with a nationwide controversy simmering over the use of deadly force by police against African-Americans.
Rankin testified that he calmly approached Chapman to discuss the shoplifting accusation and was preparing to handcuff him when the teen refused to comply with his orders and a struggle ensued.
“The sentence was not enough”, said Earl Lewis Jr., a cousin of the 18-year-old who died, William Chapman II.
Rankin, who was sacked after his murder indictment, had already killed another unarmed suspect four years earlier.
Rankin and another witness, a construction worker, said Chapman knocked the officer’s stun gun out of his hands. Rankin took out his pistol and ordered him several times to get on the ground, he said. Rankin was facing up to 10 years in prison; when he is formally sentenced on October 12, the judge can give him less than the two and a half years recommended by the jury, but not more.
He said the civil case will show Chapman’s civil rights were violated and prove the negligent hiring and retention of Rankin within the Portsmouth Police Department after he shot and killed Kirill Denyankin in 2011.
Babineau said that evidence is significantly different than the criminal case against Rankin. “I wish this never happened”. “I believe that everyone’s mouths will drop open and say, ‘What in the world was the police chief thinking when they chose to retain this officer on the police department?'” “The defendant brought a gun to what, at worst, was a fistfight”, she said. “I can’t begin to fathom how much pain that family is going through”. A third of these were convicted, a third were not and the other cases are pending. “I wish I could have done more to keep him alive”. Rankin said he fired his weapon after the teen came towards him in an aggressive manner. When asked by prosecutors why he did not attempt to tackle the fleeing Chapman, Rankin said that he did not think he could win in an unarmed fight. “He didn’t have an option”, said Rankin’s lead attorney, James Broccoletti.
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His conviction marked a rare one for any on-duty police officer in the death of a suspect.
