Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 05/19/2025 7:00:45 PM PDT by xxqqzz
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. — The family of a U.S. airman who was fatally shot by a Florida sheriff’s deputy inside his own home in 2024 filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday over his killing.
The complaint filed in a Pensacola courthouse alleges that Deputy Eddie Duran used excessive and unconstitutional deadly force when he shot Senior Airman Roger Fortson just seconds after the Black 23-year-old opened his apartment door on May 3, 2024. Duran identifies as Hispanic, according to his voter registration.
Fortson’s family is represented by Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who has been involved in a number of cases involving law enforcement killings of Black people, including those of Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols and George Floyd.
Duran has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter with a firearm.
The complaint also details alleged failures by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in training and supervision and claims that staff at the apartment complex where Fortson lived provided misleading information that led to the fatal law enforcement response.
Duran came to Fortson's door in Fort Walton Beach in response to a report of a physical fight inside an apartment. A worker there identified Fortson’s apartment as the location of a loud argument, according to sheriff’s investigators.
(Excerpt) Read more at wbaltv.com ...
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
(puke!)
I saw the video of that incident and my first thought was this was a bad shoot. I knew the deputy was going to be charged criminally. And now comes the civil lawsuit.
It was in the daytime in the afternoon, and the pistol was down to his side. In the first second, without a single word, the deputy goes cyclic and guns him down.
They should pay hard for that one.
The apartment management should also be culpable here. They pointed the deputy to that apartment.
Too many apartment managers think they are almost parents of the tenants or something.
They butt into a lot of things they should stay out of. If the neighbors are bothered, they can call the cops.
Apartment managers are as bad as HOAs.
“Duran identifies as Hispanic”
Identifies?
I didn’t mention race. But that airman had a pistol down by his side, and was standing there relaxed. In maybe a second, the deputy just lit him up.
I wouldn’t say life. He didn’t go there to deliberately commit a murder. He was scared and poorly trained. I would think standard Florida Manslaughter with a Firearm that carries 30 years would be fair.
I'm so sorry that I didn't make that clear!!
I identify as Eskimo. (I love rubbing noses!)
This is an example of what I mean by cops have to be trained that they have to take the risk, they can’t kill everything in front of them that could possibly be a threat.
The resident was merely answering the door and in a reasonable and legal, and not unusual way, he had his pistol at his side, the cops need to learn that they just have to endure a level of risk in their work to keep from this frequent killing of innocents, which means this cop had to take the burden of discomfort at that door, instead he just gunned down a man answering his front door who never had any idea that a panicked killer was knocking on it, something we see over and over.
“ I saw the video of that incident and my first thought was this was a bad shoot.”
****************************************
My first thought also. I’ve seen nothing to change my mind.
God cops are great. Bad ones need to go to prison.
Pretty bad, but there are worse cases where no one is charged or fired. They make it race, but the deputy probably did get scared of an armed black guy. Probably something they should be trained to handle. They must run into armed people all the time.
Definitely a screw up by the apartment complex calling with the wrong apartment number. Maybe it wasn’t a good area, why he was answering the door that way during the day. I know most people here think it is fine, but I would be a little freaked out if someone answered the door that way, my not being armed or having a badge.
It seems to me that the victim used very poor judgment in holding a gun down by his side. This is especially the case if the police officer had identified himself as a cop when he knocked on the door.
Everybody who knocks on the door saying they’re a cop isn’t.
Answering a knock at the door with a gun in hand is normal?
Did you mean to ask if it is “The resident was merely answering the door and in a reasonable and legal, and not unusual way, he had his pistol at his side’?
Do you have a comment about the killing and the cop?
bttt
Oh I didn’t take it personal! I figured something like that. And I agree with you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.