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US-CRIME-POLICE-MURDER-TRIAL
US cop who shot dead Australian convicted of murder
MINNEAPOLIS, May 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A US police officer who shot dead an
Australian woman in 2017 was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a Minneapolis
jury, ending a case that has shocked the Midwestern city and sparked outrage
in her native country.
Mohamed Noor, 33, who was fired from the city’s police force, was convicted
of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The jury, which began deliberating on Monday after three weeks of testimony
from dozens of witnesses, acquitted the former officer of the most serious
charge of second-degree murder with intent to kill.
Noor was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs and into custody,
according to US media reports.
He testified that he shot Justine Damond, an Australian who had moved to
the US, to protect his partner, because he had feared an ambush when
responding to an emergency call she had made.
But prosecutors insisted that the shooting was unreasonable and contrary to
police department training policy.
Noor targeted Damond from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was
in with his partner, Matthew Harrity.
The 40-year-old victim, a yoga instructor, had approached the cruiser after
calling 911 twice to report a possible rape in the dark alley behind her
home. No such assault was ever found to have occurred. – ‘Sad and tragic’
case –
Defense attorney Peter Wold told jurors the former officer was heartbroken
over the shooting.
Noor testified that he believed there was an imminent threat after he saw a
cyclist stop near the police cruiser, heard a loud bang and saw Harrity’s
“reaction to the person on the driver’s side raising her right arm.”
Noor added that when he reached from the cruiser’s passenger seat and shot
Damond through the driver’s side window, it was because he thought his
partner “would have been killed.”
Damond was wounded in the abdomen and died at the scene. Her last words
were: “I’m dying,” according to authorities.
Damond had moved to the Midwestern city to marry her American fiancee Don
Damond. She had changed her name from her maiden name, Ruszczyk.
Her death caused outrage back home and her Australian family was in the
courtroom for the trial.
At a press conference, Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, said he believed
Noor’s conviction was reached despite the “active resistance” of many police
officers and institutions.
The shooting also enraged many of the victim’s neighbors, who mounted a
campaign for police reforms. The city’s police chief at the time was forced
to resign within days.
“I want to extend my sincere apologies to the family and friends of Justine
Damond Ruszcyzk,” Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a
statement after the verdict.
The chief called the incident “sad and tragic” and acknowledged that it had
had an impact “around the world, most significantly in her home country of
Australia.”
“I will ensure that the (department) learns from this case,” Arradondo
said. – ‘Egregious failure’ –
Don Damond, the victim’s fiance, said during a press conference that the
case showed “an egregious failure” by police.
“Nearly two years ago my fiancee, Justine Ruszczyk Damond, was shot dead in
her pajamas outside our home without warning as she walked up to a police car
which she had summoned,” he said.
He called for “a complete transformation of policing in Minneapolis and
around the country.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said this was the first known murder
conviction of an on-duty officer in Minnesota.
Police officers involved in controversial shootings are rarely sent to
prison, because juries and judges are loath to second guess officers’ life-
or-death decisions made within seconds.
US trials have mostly resulted in hung juries or acquittals, which at times
have caused civil unrest in cities where racial tensions are already high.
Another Minnesota officer, Jeronimo Yanez, was fired from his job but
acquitted after fatally shooting black motorist Philando Castile in 2016.
Grassroots group “Justice for Justine” founder Sarah Kuhnen said her
organization lauded Noor’s conviction, but mentioned the names of several
others killed by police in Minnesota and beyond in recent years, including
Castile.
“While we are glad, so very glad for this verdict,” Kuhnen said, “We don’t
for a second think that the system is fixed.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0908 hrs