http://themilitant.com/2015/7941/794104.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 41 November 16, 2015
(front page)
Prosecutor refuses to charge
cop who killed S. Carolina teen
Despite video, above, that shows cop Mark Tiller shooting Zachary
Hammond, right, as his car passes by, prosecutor claimed Hammond was
trying to run Tiller down.
BY JANICE LYNN
SENECA, S.C. — “The dashcam video shows that my son was not trying to
hit the officer,” Paul Hammond told the Militant Oct. 30. Zachary
Hammond, 19, was shot and killed by Lt. Mark Tiller at a Hardee’s
parking lot here July 26 during an attempted drug sting. The cop claimed
he was in fear for his life and Hammond had tried to run him over.
State prosecutor Chrissy Adams announced Oct. 27 that she would not file
any charges against Tiller, and finally made public the police camera
footage showing what happened. In addition to repeated requests from
Hammond’s family, the Greenville News and other media outlets had filed
a lawsuit demanding its release.
In an Oct. 26 letter to the State Law Enforcement Division, Adams
described the video as “troublesome,” but concluded, “Tiller broke no
State laws.” She said, “It was concerning that Lt. Tiller chose to run
up to Hammond’s car instead of staying at his patrol car’s door,” but
nevertheless “deadly force was justified.”
The dashcam video, which has now been widely viewed, is unmistakable. It
shows Tiller rushing up to Hammond’s car with his gun drawn, yelling, “I
will blow your f…. ass off” as Hammond tries to drive away, not at
Tiller. As the car goes around him, the cop grabs it, then fires two
shots as the car passes him, hitting Hammond once in the side and once
in the back.
Adams also released texts and emails purporting to show Hammond used and
sold drugs.
“These had no relevance to what happened,” Paul Hammond said at his
home. “Zach had some problems, but he was certainly not a ‘drug king’ as
some of the media have stated. Why was the first thing the officer did
was pull out a gun?”
“We are more disappointed by an investigation that seemed more focused
on attacking the victim, which was Zach, than investigating the
shooter,” his mother, Angie Hammond, told the press Oct. 29. Adams
“tried to show Zach’s life was not worth anything.”
Paul Hammond told reporters he wants to meet with Gov. Nikki Haley and
officials of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division so they can
watch the video together and then look him in the eyes and tell him the
officer was justified in killing his son. The family has organized
several vigils and press conferences to protest the killing. They filed
a civil suit against Tiller, the Seneca Police Department and the police
chief, and a federal investigation is continuing.
“Before this we were like many middle-income working people, just trying
to get through each day,” Paul Hammond told the Militant. “But now we
think about things differently and are questioning a lot of things we
see in the news.”
Going door to door in Seneca, Militant correspondents found pretty much
everyone had seen the video. “I believe that cop should go to jail,”
said 16-year-old Jahlil Harrison, an African-American high school
student. “I didn’t think he was trying to hit that officer.”
John Clark, 72, a retired industrial engineer who is Caucasian, said,
“Even though he tried to run off, [Tiller] shouldn’t have shot him. That
officer needs to be prosecuted.”
“I think both were in the wrong, but the cop handled it wrong when he
rushed up with his gun drawn,” said Garrett Mock, 22, who works at Home
Depot.
Eric Bland, an attorney representing the Hammond family, said Oct. 29
that state Rep. Todd Rutherford will ask the state attorney general to
reopen the case.
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