Fired officer Nouman Raja was arrested Wednesday…
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Rosetta Lewis hugs Terry Banks after he spoke about his nephew Corey Jones at a news conference at the Bible Church of God in Boynton Beach, Fla., Wednesday, June 1, 2016.
Corey Jones’ family members and their attorney’s showed up outside the Palm Beach County Courthouse Thursday morning to talk about the recent developments in the investigation into Jones’ death.
When Raja’s sergeant and other officers arrived, they found Jones’ body between some trees nearly 200 feet from the back of his SUV. Former Palm Beach, Florida officer Nouman Raja is charged with manslaughter and attempted murder in the death of Corey Jones.
The former cop who fatally shot a popular musician along a Florida highway last fall was granted $250,000 bond Thursday but ordered to remain on house arrest. If convicted, Raja could face life in prison.
Palm Beach Sheriff’s personnel gather with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents near the scene of the Corey Jones shooting Saturday Oct. 24, 2015, in Palm Beach Gardens. Audio of the fatal encounter was captured because Jones was on the phone with roadside assistance at the time of the shooting, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Court documents say on the call, you can hear Raja repeatedly asks Jones “You good?”
Suddenly, the officer shouts, using an expletive, for Jones to put his hands up. He fell dead or dying 190 feet from his SUV, the documents say. The safety was on and it had not been fired.
Immediately after the shooting, Raja used his personal cellphone to call 911. Because he never identified himself as a police officer. Regardless of the outcome of the case, he told the Sun-Sentinel, he wants to honor Jones’ memory by pushing for a change in police procedure.
Jones, a professional drummer and housing inspector, was on the side of the road after his vehicle broke down. “Seven months ago, that police officer lied”.
“Officer Raja might not have done everything correctly by procedure”.
He told Atlantis police the mentally ill need to be approached with compassion but resorted to fists and Tasers when confronted with psychiatric patients at JFK Medical Center. You have to look at the facts as he perceived them.
“[As a prosecutor], if I were actually going to be charging somebody I would be less likely to release the transcripts or physical evidence”, he says.
Raja’s union, the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association, defended the officer and said it would pay his legal bills. “I have been in gunfights”. “Without question, although we didn’t know when this first happened, we knew that that recording from AT&T would be pivotal in this case”, said Parks. Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Jones’ family, said the recording shows Raja verbally bullied Jones, that he fired without justification and continued shooting as Jones ran away.
Professor Stinson says the officer’s decision to approach Jones in an unmarked van struck him as unusual.
Authorities say 43-year-old Liliana Moreno and her 9-year-old daughter Daniela haven’t been heard from in days.
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