Then Seneca, S.C., police officers converged on their auto, reportedly because they knew that Morton carried drugs (she was later charged with simple possession of 10 grams of marijuana).
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The FBI Columbia Field Office, the U.S. attorney for South Carolina and the Department of Justice Civil Right Division will participate in the investigation into Zachary Hammond’s death, according to a DOJ release.
“This investigation will run parallel to the state’s investigation”, Drake said in an email. The officer walked back over to the man on the ground rolled him over to his side, put something underneath his body, and then rolled him back…. a police officer with the neighboring police force has confirmed to SLED that the Seneca Police Department celebrated the killing of Zachary by desecrating his corpse. While another another who responded to the scene of the shooting resigned amid an internal affairs investigation.
“We did get the feeling that he felt like something wasn’t quite right”.
But this defense of the Seneca police has been weakened by the second autopsy report, which proves that the bullets entered Hammond’s auto through the driver’s side window. “Every death of an unarmed teen, regardless of color, strips a piece of our dignity and humanity as a society”.
The announcement was welcome news to Hammond’s parents, who spoke just hours before at a news conference to beg for the release of dash cam video from the July 26 confrontation.
“Clearly this officer was not in any danger at the time he fired the two shots into the auto”, Eric Bland, attorney for Hammond’s family, told Reuters August 11.
Zachary Hammond was shot in the parking lot of Hardee’s restaurant in Seneca on July 26.
“If not for Lt. Tiller’s quick reflexes and his ability to push off the vehicle, Lt. Tiller would have easily been run over by Mr. Hammond”, Tiller’s attorney, John Mussetto, said in a statement.
Hammond’s family requested the inquiry due to what they called “the substantial violations of (the late teenager’s) civil rights” and the need for a ‘transparent and independent investigation of the Seneca Police Department’. They had hoped the release of the video would help shed light on the case and maybe prompt other witnesses to come forward.
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“We no longer can sit back and allow the police to be occupiers in our communities”, he said. “I think all young lives matter, not just Black or white”. “I’m very concerned about the police not releasing the dash-cam”. After noting that the family had confidence in SLED and Solicitor Chrissy Adams, Bland went on say that “the issues that surround the death of Zachary Hammond are issues of national significance”.
