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Vol. 79/No. 39 November 2, 2015
‘We want truth about what
happened to our son’
BY JANICE LYNN
SENECA, S.C. — “We’re not going to give up trying to find out the truth
about what happened to our son Zach,” Paul Hammond told the Militant at
an Oct. 14 visit to his home. He recently retired after working 38 years
at the nearby Michelin tire plant. Zachary Hammond, 19, who is
Caucasian, was shot twice and killed by Seneca police officer Mark
Tiller July 26 in a Hardee’s restaurant parking lot.
Zachary and Tori Morton, a female companion, had driven to Hardee’s to
get ice cream. The cops say they stopped his car as part of a drug sting
aimed at Morton. She was ultimately charged with simple possession of
marijuana.
Tiller drew his gun and yelled “that he would blow our f---ing heads off
and immediately started firing,” Morton said in an affidavit.
Tiller claims he fired fearing for his life when Zachary drove his car
at him. But an independent autopsy requested by the family found that
the youth was shot in the back, showing that the officer could not have
been worried about being run over when he pulled the trigger. The
official autopsy has not been released.
The family has organized vigils, press conferences, written to the
governor, and filed a civil lawsuit in federal court seeking the truth
about the death of their son. They demand release of the video of the
shooting taken by the dashboard camera in the cop’s car.
“We’ve gotten a lot of support,” Paul Hammond told the Militant. “My
wife, Angie, was recently interviewed by a radio station in San
Francisco and by a news organization in Russia. I didn’t know before
this happened that so many people fear the police and have faced
harassment. We need to keep up the pressure.”
The Greenville News and other papers have filed a lawsuit against the
State Law Enforcement Division seeking access to the video and other
records under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
“Here we are again talking about Zachary Hammond,” Chenjerai Kumanyika,
one of a half dozen people wearing “Justice for Zach” T-shirts, said at
the Seneca City Council meeting Oct. 13. “It’s been 11 weeks and no
answers. Do you honestly feel you’ve done everything to stand up and ask
questions?” Kumanyika, who is African-American, is from nearby Clemson.
“We will allow the process to take its course,” Mayor Dan Alexander
responded. “At this time I have no reason not to support my men and
women in blue. We will wait until all the information is gathered and
then make a decision if we have to.”
Related articles:
DC rally reflects rise in Black rights struggle
1995 march, 2015 rally point to fights to come
Chicago protest demands: ‘Fire cop who killed Rekia Boyd’
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