Grand Jury Clears Dallas Cops in Deadly Shooting of Man Wielding Screwdriver

A grand jury has decided not to indict two Dallas police officers in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man brandishing a screwdriver.

A Dallas County grand jury on Thursday found that John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins, two officers with the Dallas Police Department, did not act unlawfully in June when they shot 38-year-old Jason Harrison, who family members said was schizophrenic and bipolar but was not taking his medication.

Police were responding to a 911 call from Harrison’s mother requesting help getting him to the hospital. Video from a police body camera shows Harrison, who was black, in the doorway of his home holding a screwdriver, which officers demanded he drop.

The police shot Harrison and later said he was moving toward them aggressively, but Harrison’s lawyer said there is no evidence to substantiate those claims.

“Our view of the evidence is the film didn’t show any lunging, didn’t show any jabbing, didn’t show any thrusting,” Geoff Henley, an attorney for Harrison’s family, said. A federal civil rights lawsuit is still pending.

[Dallas Morning News]