Chavalia trial day 5: Scanlon lied

Lima Police Department Sgt. Joe Chavalia sits in court Monday, August 4, 2008, during the fifth day of his trial in Allen County Common Pleas Court.  James Scanlon, a Columbus police officer and witness for the defense, was the last to testify before closing arguments.   An eight person jury will decide if Chavalia is guilty of negligent homicide for the death of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson and negligent assault in the wounding of 1-year-old Sincere Wilson during a January drug raid on Third Street in Lima.  (Lima News photo/ KELLI CARDINAL)

Officer James Scanlon lied under oath today when he said not only would he have fired his weapon at Tarika Wilson, he would have done so sooner than did Sgt. Joe Chavalia.

It was a lie.

There is no way Scanlon could possibly know how he would have reacted in that situation. I guess if you pay a witness enough money, he will say whatever necessary to excuse someone else's actions.

When it comes to cop trials, the testimony of other cops, except those actually involved in the investigation, is automatically suspect. There is a long history of cops protecting their own.

While Scanlon was not there, Sgt. Ron Holman, who was a mere inches from Chavalia, testified he did not believe they were under fire and therefore would not have, and did not, fire his weapon.

Now whom are you going to believe? A Columbus cop who makes a living militarizing SWAT teams, or a Lima sergeant who was actually at the scene and a mere few inches from Chavalia when the shooting occurred?

Now that the testimony is over, if I were on that jury, I don't see how I could vote any way other than guilty.

 Let's recap:

•  As I write above, the most damning testimony was that of Holman who was only a few inches from Chavalia when the shooting occurred. He testified he did not believe they were under fire.
•  Forensic experts testified that Wilson was actually complying with Chavalia's commands to get down. Chavalia, in his testimony, directly contradicted the evidence. When the physical evidence says one thing and the testimony of the accused another, who do you believe?
•  Another lie from Chavalia is that he claims to have properly identified his target, when clearly he did not. Chavalia was five feet from Wilson when he fired. She was in a lit room and he was in the dark. He had a flashlight on her. Yet, he claims he could tell she was an adult, but nothing else. How in the world could he conclude she was an adult, yet, he could not see that she was unarmed, kneeling and holding a baby? It defies logic.
•  Chavalia said he saw no gun, no hands and no muzzle flashes. Other than gunshots from other M-4s downstairs, there was no evidence at all that he was under fire.
•  Chavalia had his weapon on automatic when the rest of the team members except one (the only other person on the force to have killed someone) had theirs on semiautomatic. Had he had his weapon on semiautomatic, Wilson would be alive today. That itself was negligent.

In the end, he was clearly negligent. There was no reason that Chavalia could not have waited another second or two to determine the threat. He was in the dark and heavily armored. Even if he were under fire, the odds of him getting hurt were miniscule.

Besides, THAT IS HIS JOB. It is his job to take that risk. I don't want to live in a society where city employees have carte blanche to discharge their weapons at American citizens without first identifying if there is actually a risk. If a cop can't handle that job, then he or she needs to find a new profession. Period.

Finally, it still sickens me to no end those of you who want to blame Wilson for her death. She was obeying his commands and ended up dead anyway. If cooperation will get you killed, what are your alternatives? Besides, that is a nonargument. Either Chavalia was negligent or he wasn't. It doesn't matter why Wilson was there. This trial is about Chavalia's actions, not Wilson's.

If shooting an unarmed woman who was holding a baby and kneeling is not a negligent action, then what is?

Chavalia was negligent and if the jury does not find him guilty, it will be an injustice.

E-mail to a friend |

category | War on Drugs
author | Lucente

Trackback

There are currently no trackbacks for this item.

Use this TrackBack url to ping this item (right-click, copy link target). If your blog does not support Trackbacks you can manually add your trackback by using this form.