Decision drew ire of anti-police brutality group
By Brady McCombs
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The fight started over a low-level drug deal gone wrong and a dispute over $1.10 outside Salt Lake City's bustling homeless shelter. It ended with a teenage Somali refugee being critically wounded by police, triggering protests about police brutality.
The two officers who fired four times at Abdullahi "Abdi" Mohamed that cold winter night, sending him into a coma that nearly killed him, were cleared Monday by a Utah prosecutor who said they acted appropriately because they believed Mohamed was about to seriously injure or kill the other man with a metal broom handle.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill's decision came more than five months after the Feb. 27 shooting became a flashpoint in the nation's discussion about the use of force by police against minorities.
Gill said he was thorough and methodical - including asking an outside expert on police use of force to review the investigation - in part because of the public outcry.
"It's not about making a popular decision," Gill said. "It's about committing yourself to a process that is objective, that is fair, that is accountable. Call it like you see it. It's not about choosing sides."
Stephen Michael Christian of the group said he is outraged that Gill cleared the officers but charged Mohamed. "This contributes to a narrative that black juveniles are somehow more violent than white people of similar ages," Christian said.
Prosecutors still would not release police body camera footage Monday, citing new juvenile charges against Mohamed. He faces counts of aggravated robbery and possessing drugs with an intent to distribute after police said they found methamphetamine in his pocket.
Mohamed is set to appear in court Wednesday on the new charges. His attorney, Alicia Memmott, didn't immediately comment.
Mohamed came to the U.S. with his family in 2004 from a refugee camp in Kenya, Weledi said. Court records show he started getting in trouble with police at age 12 and spent time in juvenile detention centers for theft, trespassing and assault.
His family has disputed accounts that he was brutally attacking the man. His cousin Muslima Weledi has said that witnesses told her Mohamed had a wooden broomstick and misunderstood the command.
Mohamed, then 17, was hospitalized in a medically induced coma but survived. He turned 18 in April, and his health condition was not known.
The shooting occurred on a cold night while the NBA's Utah Jazz played at a nearby arena. The victim, a man who prosecutors only identified as K.M., had come to the homeless shelter to get food and buy drugs, Gill said Monday while providing the most complete recap yet of the events.
When the victim asked Mohamed for marijuana, Mohamed told the man he only had methamphetamine but demanded the man's money anyway, Gill said.
The man refused and instead handed the teen a metal broom handle, which Mohamed used to hit the man, prosecutors say. Officers spotted the attack, and police body camera footage recorded an officer telling the suspects to drop the metallic poles at least 10 times, Gill said.
Police fired as Mohamed approached the victim and appeared ready to strike him again, the investigation found. The officers' actions may have saved the victim's life, Gill said. He received welts and bruises.
Officers Kory Checketts and Jordan Winegar will be returning to full-time duty in the next few weeks after being on paid administrative leave, authorities said.
Published: Wed, Aug 10, 2016
