Months after a deadly police shooting in Raleigh, where the investigation stands
Months after a Raleigh police officer fatally shot Daniel Turcios following a crash on Interstate 440, the end of the criminal investigation may be drawing near.
The investigation wraps up as another one begins on the latest police shooting in Raleigh. There have been six shootings by law enforcement in the Triangle this year.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told The News & Observer on Monday that she had received the State Bureau of Investigation’s report on Turcios’s death and hoped to have a decision by the end of May.
Freeman will determine whether criminal charges are warranted in the death of the 43-year-old native of El Salvador on Jan. 11.
Five officers responded to the crash that day, and body camera footage released in February depicts a chaotic scene that unraveled in minutes, as officers confronted Turcios before tasing and shooting him.
Police say Turcios refused to drop a knife he was carrying at the time, but family members say he had a limited understanding of English and was disoriented by the crash, meaning he did not understand their commands.
A 911 caller suggested Turcios was drunk at the time of the crash, which Police Chief Estella Patterson later cited at a news conference. But an autopsy report detected no alcohol or drugs in his system, The N&O reported.
Two officers were placed on leave, Sgt. W.B. Tapscott and Officer A.A. Smith. Tapscott fired a Taser at Turcios as he walked away from officers, while Smith shot Turcios five times after police say he swung a knife at officers.
The N&O has asked Raleigh police whether its internal investigation remains ongoing, and whether the involved officers remain on administrative leave.
No word on identity of man killed in latest shooting
Raleigh Police officers shot and killed a man outside the Raleigh Police Southeast District Station on Saturday afternoon. A day later, police would not release the man’s identity or answer other questions about the case. They have said the man’s family has been notified of his death.
The man threw “multiple” Molotov cocktails at police vehicles in a parking lot near the station, Chief Estella Patterson said in a news conference Saturday night.
Police officers shot the man after he threw “incendiary weapons” near the officers and one came within close proximity to an officer, Patterson said.
At least two vehicles were on fire, Patterson said, including one RPD SUV.
All four officers who responded to the incident were wearing body cameras that were turned on, and security cameras at the police station also captured footage of the shooting, Patterson said. The Raleigh Police Department will seek a court petition to release the video footage.
Six shootings
The six shootings by law enforcement this year, which spanned four law enforcement agencies across Raleigh and Durham County, all prompted investigations by the SBI, as is standard when police officers shoot someone.
Two involved Durham police officers, one a Durham sheriff’s deputy and one a Duke University police officer, The N&O reported.
In each case, the police agencies announced they would conduct separate, internal investigations to determine whether the officers violated department policies in the shootings.
The officers were placed on administrative leave with pay, pending the outcome of the investigations.
