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The case of Stephon Clark will undergo a civil rights review, federal authorities announced, despite the fact that California’s top prosecutor decided against charging the police officers in the case with fatally shooting the unarmed Black man, the LA Times reports.
Last week, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced there would be no charges against the Sacramento police officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet who shot at Clark 20 times and killed him in his grandmother’s backyard last March.
The police officers alleged that on March 18, 2018 Clark, who was unarmed, pointed a gun at them during a foot-chase after a report that several cars in the area had been vandalized. After shooting at Clark 20 times within 23 seconds of encountering him, the police discovered he had nothing more than a cell phone in his hand.
Clark died at the scene after being struck at least seven times.
“Pain, anger, frustration, disappointment, a wound has been reopened,” said Jamilia Land, a friend of the Clark family, in response to the news.
Read More: Sacramento Mayor apologizes for Stephon Clark’s death, promises to enact changes
U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office today issued the following statement about the forthcoming investigation:
“Now that both state and local authorities have completed their investigations into the shooting of Stephon Clark, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI, in conjunction with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, will examine whether the shooting involved violations of Mr. Clark’s federal civil rights. That examination will involve a review of the substance and results of the state and local investigations, and any additional investigative steps, if warranted.”
A former federal and state prosecutor and Sacramento attorney Bill Portanova, said the review was “not normal in any respect.”
“Given the highly political nature of the entire situation, it makes sense that all law enforcement agencies in the jurisdiction would be asked to weigh in,” Portanova said. “There are those cases where politics demands it.”