A former head of Boston's police union already charged with raping a
young relative now faces 16 new charges and accusations that he sexually
assaulted and abused four more children, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Patrick Rose, a former Boston police officer and president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, was arrested on child sex charges earlier this month. Those charges stemmed from allegations he sexually assaulted a young relative starting when she was 7.
Rose was arraigned Tuesday on the 16 new charges, according to
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins' office. There are 11
counts of child rape and five counts of indecent assault and battery on a
child under 14.
Prosecutors now say Rose sexually assaulted five children. Of the new
victims, one was allegedly abused within the last two years, while Rose
allegedly abused the other three in the 1990s.
In a statement, Rollins called Rose's alleged behavior "unconscionable."
"There is nothing more horrible and depraved than sexually abusing a
child, and in this case it is made even more unfathomable that the
defendant is a former member of law enforcement," Rollins said. "He
actually swore an oath to protect victims from harm, instead he was
preying on and harming our most vulnerable and innocent, young
children."
Judge Kathleen Coffey raised Rose's bail from $250,000 to $270,000,
prosecutors said. She kept in place an order that Rose must wear a GPS
monitor, surrender his passport, surrender any firearms as well as his
license to carry, have no unsupervised contact with any child under the
age of 16 and stay away from and have no contact with the victims.
When Rose was arraigned in West Roxbury District Court on the first charges, the 66-year-old hid his face.
Anyone with information about Rose is asked to contact the Suffolk County State Police Detectives Unit at 617-727-8817.
In Suffolk County, survivors of child abuse and exploitation and
their non-offending caretakers can receive comprehensive services at the
Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County. The CAC can be reached at
617-779-2146. Survivors may also contact the Child Protection Unit at
the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office at 617-619-4300. Anyone
who believes that a child in Massachusetts may be the victim of abuse
can call the DCF Child at Risk Hotline at 1-800-792-5200.
This article contains offensive language throughout.
(CNN)On September 1, 2016, police in Bordentown, New Jersey, got a call from the manager at a local Ramada Inn. The manager told the dispatcher two teenagers had used the pool without paying for a room. This rather mundane call set in motion a chain of events that led to the chief of police being charged with a federal hate crime, the first case of its kind in at least ten years.
When officers arrived, they located Timothy Stroye, 18, and a 16-year-old female. Stroye was still wet from the pool, clad in white shorts. A confrontation ensued, and the officers called for backup.
A shouting match escalated into a physical struggle. A lieutenant, who had a preexisting back problem, was injured. Stroye got pepper sprayed and handcuffed. The teenage girl's aunt, who witnessed the encounter, screamed at the officers.
What happened next is hazy. As police walked Stroye out of the hotel, an officer allegedly slammed the teen's head against a metal door jam. At the police station, Stroye told an EMS technician he was having an asthma attack, and he feared he had suffered a concussion. He chose not to go to the hospital, however, to avoid delays in processing his case.
According to federal prosecutors, the officer who hit Stroye was Bordentown Township police chief and business administrator, Frank Nucera Jr. They alleged the assault was driven by bias against African-Americans.
That's a step federal prosecutors opted not to take in higher profile cases of people who were killed by law enforcement. The deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Freddie Gray in Baltimore sparked massive protests and riots in 2014 and 2015. The officers involved in those encounters were not charged in federal court.
It is difficult to bring criminal deprivation of rights indictments against law enforcement because police have wide latitude to use force if they believe an individual is threatening public safety, whether the person is armed or not. With Nucera, prosecutors felt they had sufficient proof to convince a jury the now-retired chief used unreasonable force and he was motivated by racial bias.
Nucera's defense attorney, Rocco Cipparone Jr., said his client is innocent of the assault and one of the other officers caused the teen's head injury.
Stroye himself said several officers struck him. He told the FBI he was handcuffed while lying on the ground. One officer pressed his knee against Stroye's face and another pressed his knee against the teen's back, according to notes from an FBI interview. After the police brought Stroye to his feet, he asked for their names. They did not respond although Stroye remembered one was referred to as "chief." His vision was blurry from pepper spray.
While the precise details of the altercation may never be known, the chief's reaction to Stroye's arrest was captured in audio recordings. Sergeant Nathan Roohr had been secretly making tapes for months because he felt Nucera created a toxic work environment, and he found the chief's remarks about minorities offensive. The FBI investigation revealed that at least nine other officers were using hidden recording devices, as they reportedly shared Roorh's concerns.
Last Tuesday, a federal judge in Camden, New Jersey denied a defense motion to dismiss the indictment, clearing the way for the retired chief to go on trial.
"I'm tired of them, man"
The Nucera tapes contain profane rants against African-Americans, Hispanics and Muslims. Nucera repeatedly referred to Stroye using the N-word.
The chief complained the Ramada call was a waste of resources caused by "six unruly f-----g n-----s," according to court documents.
He described the struggle to handcuff Stroye: " F-----g little f-----g n-----. He was built pretty stocky though. When you put cocoa butter on that skin and come out of the pool, it's like trying to hold down a f-----g snake."
In another recording, Nucera said, "I'm f-----g tired of them, man. I'll tell you what, it's gonna get to the point where I could shoot one of these m----rf-----s. And that n----r b---h lady, she almost got it."
Roohr gave the FBI 81 audio recordings of Nucera made between 2015 and 2016. Agents then provided the sergeant with devices to continue taping the chief.
He became a government witness, wired for sound and directed by the FBI to discuss Stroye's arrest with the chief. Roohr repeatedly said he was worried about a potential civil lawsuit for excessive force in an effort to elicit a confession from the chief.
"He's a nut"
Nucera's comments in court records are peppered with references to President Donald Trump. The Ramada incident took place during the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.
One officer told the FBI Nucera predicted "they" (African-Americans) would be unhappy if Trump got elected because he would take away "free rides."
In a recording made on the day of Stroye's arrest, Nucera said, "Donald Trump is the last hope for white people, 'cause Hillary will give it to all the minorities to get a vote. That's the truth! I'm telling you. I think about that more and more. He is, he's the last hope for the f-----g white people cause she's too (UI). All the seven mothers that were at the Democratic National Convention saying, 'The police killed my kids.'"
Still, Nucera questioned Trump's temperament.
"He's a nut," Nucera said, adding that he wasn't planning to vote.
Nucera announced his retirement in January 2017. Less than a year after he stepped down, he was indicted with hate crime assault, deprivation of rights under color of law and making false statements.
The retired chief pleaded not guilty and was released on $500,000 bail. Cipparone, Nucera's attorney, declined to answer a list of detailed questions submitted by CNN.
The Nucera case is unique because hate crimes are usually prosecuted by local authorities rather than the federal government, said Rebecca Sturtevant, a spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The retired chief appears to be the first cop in at least a decade to be charged with a federal hate crime in conjunction with his job as a law enforcement officer, according to a search of the Pacer case locator database and Justice Department sources.
Stroye pleaded guilty to third degree assault of a police officer in state court. The judge sentenced him to six months in county jail. He was released on probation on July 15, 2017, according to the Burlington County court clerk. Stroye is currently incarcerated at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania, where he is being held pending trial on charges of writing a worthless check and access device fraud. This year, he has also pled guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia, public drunkenness and use of a motor vehicle without the owner's consent. Calls to Stroye's attorney, Nathan Criste, and the Bucks County Correctional Facility were not returned.
The nation's moral compass
The Justice Department has a mandate to enforce federal civil rights laws. During the 1950's and 1960's, the government played a critical role implementing desegregation in the South. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department was established in 1957 to enforce "federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin."
As part of its mission to protect the rights of vulnerable populations, the Civil Rights Division prosecutes select cases involving hate crimes and/or police misconduct. The Division, which also files civil suits related to sexual harassment, voting rights, housing discrimination and religious liberty, has been described on Capitol Hill as the "nation's moral compass."
In one of the Division's most prominent police violence cases, four LAPD officers were charged with deprivation of rights under color of law after beating motorist Rodney King during a traffic stop in 1991. Although a state trial ended with acquittals -- leading to riots in Los Angeles -- the officers were later indicted by the Justice Department. Two of them, Stacey C. Koon and Laurence M. Powell got convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison. The other two defendants, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno were acquitted.
Just last month, the Division charged four St. Louis police officers in connection with an assault during a street protest last year. The victim was actually an undercover detective dispatched to monitor the crowd. He was thrown to the ground, struck with a riot baton and kicked in the face, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In messages obtained by prosecutors, one of the officers expressed an eagerness to engage in violent confrontations with demonstrators: "It's gonna get IGNORANT tonight!! But it's gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these s-------s once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!"
The officers have all pleaded not guilty.
Eric Dreiband heads the Civil Rights division at the US Department of Justice.
In a statement about the St. Louis case, Dreiband said, "The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute matters involving allegations of federal criminal civil rights violations."
Federal excessive force prosecutions are relatively rare because the government must prove an officer specifically set out to deprive a victim of his or her constitutional rights, per a 1945 Supreme Court decision known as Screws V. United States. In that case, the high court overturned the convictions of a Georgia sheriff and two deputies for the beating death of an African-American prisoner because the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury they must find the defendants acted "willfully," with the purpose of violating the victim's rights.
In recent years, the FBI has investigated the deaths of unarmed black men during police encounters, including the shooting of Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the Gray case in Baltimore. Although the officers were not charged, the DOJ issued extensive reports on each city's police department and mandated reforms in civil agreements called consent decrees. (Former attorney general Jeff Sessions signed a memo on his last day in office limiting the DOJ's role in police reform via consent decree).
Proving Nucera committed a hate crime, in addition to willful deprivation of rights, is a tough task for prosecutors. The government is planning to play Roohr's tapes in the courtroom to back its allegation that the chief hit Stroye out of hatred of African-Americans.
In an omnibus motion to dismiss the indictment, the defense questioned the FBI's use of unauthorized cellphone recordings to build a case against the retired chief, arguing the investigation grew out of internal politics at the police department. During a hearing at the federal courthouse in Camden last Tuesday, the judge ruled that the issues raised by Nucera's attorney did not warrant tossing the indictment.
The crossroads of New Jersey
Bordentown Township, population 12,202, is a Philadelphia suburb on the banks of the Delaware River where the median household income is about $86,000 and more than 75% of residents are white. Originally settled by Quakers, the township is the self-proclaimed "crossroads of the heart of New Jersey," 45 miles upriver from Philadelphia and about 65 miles southwest of New York City. A two-mile stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike curves through the east side of Bordentown.
Nucera, 61, served with the Bordentown police for 34 years, working his way up to chief and administrator. He put in long hours and boasted of running the township "like a business."
There was trouble beneath the surface. Roohr and his colleagues told the FBI that the chief was verbally abusive, but they didn't report him in fear of retaliation. In a police department with a roster of 28 sworn officers, at least ten were surreptitiously recording their interactions with Nucera.
Nucera's attorney doesn't dispute that his client used racial slurs, but he argued in his court filing there's a shortage of evidence to substantiate the charge that the chief hit Stroye.
Cipparone wanted two separate trials, with standalone proceedings for the hate crime assault charge so the jury could determine whether there's proof beyond reasonable doubt Nucera pushed Stroye into the door. The judge denied this request at the hearing last Tuesday.
Tracking hate and excessive force
Every year, the FBI publishes the Uniform Crime Report, an overview based on stats from local police departments. It is an incomplete snapshot of crime in the United States, since participation is voluntary and law enforcement agencies can opt out of sharing info with the federal government.
"The lack of national data on police use of force incidents serves as one of the most significant impediments to identifying problems and implementing solutions," the US Commission on Civil Rights, an independent federal watchdog agency, concluded in a report on modern policing practices and use of force.
The FBI does gather some lethal force data. The "killing of a felon" in the line of duty is called a "justifiable homicide" in the bureau's annual crime report. According to the latest UCR, 429 individuals were killed by law enforcement in 2017. That is likely an undercount since local agencies are not required to share info with the FBI and the definition of a "justifiable homicide" is somewhat ambiguous. The Washington Post, which maintains its own database of fatal police shootings based on news reports, police websites and social media, estimated 985 people were killed by police in 2017.
Police take cover as a barrage of gunfire erupts during a demonstration to mark the 1-year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown on August 9, 2015 in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer on August 9, 2014. His death sparked months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and drew nationwide focus on police treatment of black offenders.
A total of 65 individuals got charged with deprivation of civil rights under color of law during fiscal year 2018, according to the DOJ. Most defendants were law enforcement officers but color of law violations can also be committed by judges, prosecutors, government workers and private individuals aiding and abetting the police. Nucera is the only officer charged with deprivation of rights and hate crime assault, according to the DOJ.
The federal definition of a hate crime is: "An offense involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin. Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person." Additionally, any offense committed against an individual because of actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability is also a hate crime.
So why did the FBI get involved in the Nucera case?
At some point in September or October of 2016, Roohr called an old friend, Jacob Archer, a special agent at the FBI's Philadelphia office who started his career as a Bordentown city police officer. Roohr visited Archer at his home to tell him about the Ramada incident. Archer referred Roohr to a special agent from the FBI's New Jersey office, Arthur Durrant, who was involved in a 2007 investigation of the chief. The bureau looked into allegations Nucera misused funds during his tenure as the township fire commissioner, according to the Burlington County Times. (The 2007 investigation ended without charges being filed.)
Separately, Captain Brian Pesce of the Bordentown Police Department's internal affairs unit prepared a complaint about the chief's conduct and scheduled a meeting with the Burlington County prosecutor's office but canceled after the FBI told him to hold off. (Pesce is now Bordentown police chief.)
Right from the start, Roohr told the FBI he had deleted some of his recordings, claiming there was nothing relevant in those files. In the motion to dismiss, Nucera's attorney said a sworn police officer should know destroying evidence is a serious breach that can derail an investigation.
Nucera's attorney also criticized the FBI for failing to conduct a forensic search of Roohr's computer to retrieve the recordings that had been erased. The bureau's experts routinely recover deleted files from computers.
"Those people don't like dogs"
The prosecution's court filings paint a portrait of a police chief whose misconduct was unchecked because employees felt intimidated by him. Officers said Nucera tended to escalate tense situations and railed against "towel heads," "spics" and "moulinyans." Even staffers who praised the chief admitted he made jokes laced with racial slurs.
The chief could be compassionate -- he once helped a fire victim pay for a hotel room -- but he also had a vindictive side, officers told the FBI.
Nucera is accused of sending K-9 officers to the high school for basketball games when the visiting team was predominantly black. According to court documents, Nucera said words to the effect of, "We're going to have dogs working that night because those people don't like dogs."
At an active shooter training drill, Nucera allegedly embarrassed an African-American officer. Before loaning the officer a GoPro camera to wear on his head, the chief warned him not to get grease on it.
In November 2015, squad members discovered one of the police vehicles had a flat tire in the station parking lot. Nucera said he suspected the tire had been slashed as an act of revenge by an African-American man who'd been arrested for disorderly conduct.
"I wish that n----- would come back from Trenton and give me a reason to put my hands on him, I'm tired of 'em," Nucera said, according to court documents. "These n----s are like ISIS, they have no value. They should line them all up and mow 'em down. I'd like to be on the firing squad. I could do it."
An incestuous "witch hunt"
If everyone was troubled by the chief's behavior, they should have spoken out sooner, Nucera's attorney, Cipparone wrote in his motion to dismiss. For instance, the New Jersey attorney general's office has strict guidelines for the deployment of police dogs. A chief who uses K-9 teams to intimidate minorities could be charged with deprivation of rights under New Jersey state law, according to Cipparone.
The defense described the FBI investigation as a "witch hunt" fueled by workplace grievances rather than concern about excessive force or intolerance.
Multiple officers told the FBI the chief was stingy with overtime assignments, and three cops claimed he docked their pay as a disciplinary measure. Many said Nucera was fixated on generating revenue for the township with traffic citations.
Nucera's attorney wrote that his client was a tough, fiscally responsible boss overseeing resentful subordinates who leveraged personal relationships to make a federal case out of a botched arrest rife with misconduct by all involved.
The chief repeatedly denied hitting Stroye in the tapes obtained by prosecutors.
"To me there was no indication that anybody was injured other than the normal amount of force to put somebody in custody," Nucera said. "You know, it's like Timoney said, 'How do you arrest somebody nicely that doesn't want to be arrested?'"
wbtv.com
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by Michael Gordon | The Charlotte Observer
When a Gaston County teenager went missing in 2015, Lowell police officer Paul Blair was assigned to her case.
First he found the 13-year-old, a new court document says, then he began showing up at her home late at night, bringing candy and giving her rides in his patrol car.
Blair, a husband and father, told the girl’s parents he wanted to be their daughter’s mentor. Instead, he began having sex with her in his patrol car while still on duty and wearing his uniform, the court document says.
At 14, she became pregnant with Blair’s child, the lawsuit says. In 2017, the veteran officer pleaded guilty to statutory rape and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In a new lawsuit that surfaced in federal court this week, the teen and her mother are seeking damages for what they describe as the physical and emotional damage caused by Blair. They also want to be reimbursed for the costs of first delivering and now raising Blair’s infant son.
The lawsuit also names Lowell police Chief Scott Bates and the city of Lowell, about 15 miles southwest of Charlotte, alleging that they knew that Blair had a history of improper contact with minors.
Not only was Blair hired and kept on the force, the suit says, he was also placed in positions where he would have close contacts with children.
The lawsuit accuses Blair of assault and battery, and accuses all the defendants of infliction of emotional distress and wrongful conception.
The mother and daughter are seeking medical expenses, as well as punitive and compensatory damages, claiming that the teenage victim was deprived “of her right to freedom from unlawful assault, battery and sexual contact at the hands of police.”
The infant boy Blair fathered is being raised by his victim’s mother, the lawsuit says. She is asking to be reimbursed for the hospital costs of delivering the child, along with the expenses of taking care of him until he reaches legal age. She also wants to repaid the medical expenses stemming from her daughter’s “severe physical and mental injuries.”
In an interview with the Observer on Thursday, Lowell city attorney Scott MacLatchie disputed the allegations that police and city leaders knew or should have known of a pattern of professional misbehavior by Blair. MacLatchie said the former officer pleaded guilty in court to “a single off-duty incident that had nothing to do with his employment.”
“It’s very unfortunate what happened to this girl and her family,” MacLatchie said. “It is my position that the person responsible is in prison right now, and that the city of Lowell is in no way responsible for what this man did off duty and on his own time.”
Blair, 53, is being held in Pamlico Correctional Institution and is scheduled for release in 2029. Shortly after his imprisonment, Blair violated the terms of his plea agreement by trying to get a letter to his teenage victim, the Gaston Gazette reported.
“I was amazed that he was stupid enough to do it,” Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell said at the time, according to the Gazette.
Blair joined the Lowell police in 2003.
After returning the missing teen to her family, Blair later told them that the girl had taken an interest in law enforcement and that mentoring children was a part of his job, the lawsuit says.
He began visiting her home regularly, bringing candy and food to give her. He frequently told the girl’s parents and others that if they questioned the nature of his relationship with the teen, they would open themselves up to “criminal liability,” the lawsuit says.
Following what the lawsuit describes as frequent sexual liaisons with the teen, Blair was arrested in September 2016. By then, the girl was pregnant. She was still 13 when Blair initiated the sex, the lawsuit says.
The Observer does not identify victims of sexual assault. While the lawsuit names her mother, it refers to the teen as Jane Doe.
AURORA, Colo.
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A Colorado district attorney has cleared an Aurora police officer of criminal wrongdoing in the July shooting death of an armed Vietnam veteran who killed a naked intruder trying to drown his 11-year-old grandson.
Dave Young, district attorney for Colorado’s 17th Judicial District, on Monday announced his office’s decision in the July 30 death of Richard “Gary” Black Jr. Black, 73, was shot by Aurora police Officer Drew Limbaugh as officers responded to multiple 911 calls reporting an intruder in Black’s home.
Black, who had just shot and killed the intruder, 26-year-old Dajon Harper, was shot in his living room after he did not respond to multiple officers’ orders to drop his weapon. His killing was caught on Limbaugh’s body camera.
Portions of two officers’ body camera footage were released Monday by the Aurora Police Department. Police Chief Nick Metz said in a statement that the footage was a “mutually-agreeable portion” released after consultation with Black’s family, who wanted the footage of his death released.
The footage made public by Metz’s office was a big piece of the evidence that Young cited in making his decision not to prosecute Limbaugh.
“Based on the evidence presented and the applicable Colorado law, there is no reasonable likelihood of success of proving any crimes beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” Young wrote in his letter to Metz. “Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed against the law enforcement officer involved in this incident.”
Young wrote in his legal analysis that the body camera footage “corroborates the notion of uncertainty surrounding the dispatch call,” which was reported to officers as an “unknown problem” at Black’s home. He pointed out that responding officers, including Limbaugh, heard people outside the home talking about there being “blood everywhere” and that someone was hurting a child inside the house.
The officers heard gunfire seconds after they approached the house, then saw the armed Black through the kicked-in front door.
“Perhaps Mr. Black did not know that it was the police standing at his front door,” Young wrote. “Perhaps Mr. Black did not hear the police commands to drop the weapon. Either way, there is no evidence to contradict Officer Limbaugh’s reasonable belief that Mr. Black presented a threat to the officers because he did not drop the weapon and could shoot at any moment.”
Attorneys for the Black family disputed Young’s viewpoint, saying in a statement obtained by the Denver Post that the body camera footage proves Black never pointed his gun at the officers, but kept it at his side as he moved toward them.
Officers also failed to identify themselves as police officers.
“The district attorney’s report selectively emphasizes certain facts in order to justify its conclusion,” the statement by lawyers at Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC read, according to the Post. “But the report minimizes what is clear from the body camera footage: The officers who responded to the Black residence never identified themselves as law enforcement to Mr. Black prior to shooting him dead.”
Black was a licensed gun owner who had legally bought his handgun in 2009 and had a concealed weapon permit, the Post reported. An Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam -- earning four Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart -- he suffered from significant hearing loss stemming from his time in the military, his family’s attorneys said.
Body camera footage recorded by Aurora police Officer Drew Limbaugh shows Army veteran Richard "Gary" Black Jr., 73, in his home moments before he was fatally shot by Limbaugh. Officers responding to Black's home the morning of July 30, 2018, came upon Black, a decorated Vietnam veteran, holding a flashlight and a handgun less than a minute after Black shot and killed Dejon Harper, 26, an intruder who kicked in the front door and attacked Black's 11-year-old grandson in the home's bathroom. Limbaugh, who opened fire after Black failed to heed officers' warnings to drop the weapon, seen in Black's right hand above, has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
Colorado DA clears cop who killed armed Vietnam vet protecting family from intruder
“He was a dedicated family man and his last moments were spent heroically defending his family against intruders in his home,” the lawyers’ statement said. “As the district attorney’s report demonstrates, Mr. Black’s death was an unnecessary tragedy.”
His family is “extremely disappointed” that criminal charges are not being pursued against Limbaugh, the Post said.
Body camera footage recorded by Aurora police Officer Drew Limbaugh shows Army veteran Richard "Gary" Black Jr., 73, in his home moments before he was fatally shot by Limbaugh. Officers responding to Black's home the morning of July 30, 2018, came upon Black, a decorated Vietnam veteran, holding a flashlight and a handgun less than a minute after Black shot and killed Dejon Harper, 26, an intruder who kicked in the front door and attacked Black's 11-year-old grandson in the home's bathroom. Limbaugh, who opened fire after Black failed to heed officers' warnings to drop the weapon, seen in Black's right hand above, has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
Black’s stepson, Chad Hayashi, told ABC 7 in Denver two days after the shooting that Black died like he lived.
“It’s just heartbreaking. My dad was a hero,” Hayashi said. “My son wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. I don’t think any of us would be here.”
Fox 31 in Denver reported that Black’s death was the second fatal police shooting Limbaugh was part of in a 33-day span. Limbaugh, who shot and killed Joey Bronson, 39, in a June 27 incident at the Biltmore Motel, was on desk duty until July 18, when he was returned to patrol.
He had not yet been cleared of wrongdoing in Bronson’s death when he killed Black.
One of the Black family’s lawyers said in the days immediately after Black’s shooting that his family was concerned that Limbaugh had been returned to the street too soon.
The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which covers the counties of Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln, cleared Limbaugh of wrongdoing in Bronson’s shooting on Aug. 29. District Attorney George Brauchler wrote in his own letter to Metz that Bronson, who had earlier fired two shots into the air from a .380-caliber handgun, was shot to death after he pointed his weapon at Limbaugh, and after two other officers had ordered him to drop his weapon at least three times.
Metz said in his statement Monday that Limbaugh remains in a “non-enforcement role” since Black’s shooting. Now that the decision over criminal charges has been made, an internal investigation will be launched into the officer’s actions, the chief said.
Young said that the findings of the criminal investigation into Black’s shooting, which was conducted by detectives with the Aurora and Denver police departments, were submitted to his office Oct. 9. He and his staff reviewed police reports, transcripts and videos of interviews with witnesses, photographs and diagrams of the crime scene and a total of 94 body camera recordings from officers at the scene.
“A thorough review of the initial responding officers’ recordings provides significant insight into the sequence of events from their perspective,” Young wrote.
Young’s letter and summary of events, which includes details of 911 calls, witness interviews and body camera footage, paints a harrowing portrait of two families trying to stop a break-in and assault of a child that ultimately ended with both Harper and Black dead.
‘That’s my Grandpa. He saved me.’
The first 911 calls came in at 1:28 a.m. June 30 from a home in the 1900 block of Iola Street, where Harper’s family had held a combination birthday party and celebration of his release from prison earlier in the day June 29, Young’s summary of events said. One of the calls came from Harper’s 12-year-old brother, who told a dispatcher that his brother was “going crazy” and was “out there trippin’.”
Neighbors of the Iola Street home, where Harper’s cousin lived, also called police to report a loud fight at the home.
Interviews with several members of Harper’s family indicated that he began acting oddly at his cousin’s home, chanting and beating the end of a stick against the floor. Though none of them saw him take anything, they told investigators they believed he was on drugs.
Harper’s autopsy confirmed that he had methamphetamine and marijuana in his system when he died, the summary said.
Afraid after he punched his younger brother in the face, Harper’s family locked him inside a bedroom at the front of the home. He broke a window and escaped, leaving a trail of blood behind.
That trail of blood led to Black’s front door about 300 yards away.
Black’s wife, Jeannette Black, called police five minutes after that first 911 call to report someone breaking into their home, located across an intersection in the 10600 block of Montview Boulevard, Young’s summary of events said.
“The nature of the call is chaotic -- sounds of banging and yelling can be overheard in the background,” the summary said. “The caller paused during the chaos and a different female voice can be overheard in the background saying something about being ‘in these people’s house,’ followed by, ‘I’m sorry, ma’am. He’s on some kind of drugs. This is my son.’”
Jeannette Black told the dispatcher that her son and grandson were trapped in the bathroom with the intruder and her grandson was “bleeding all over the place.” She said her husband was fighting with the intruder.
Interviews with witnesses indicated that after fleeing his cousin’s house, Harper broke into a family member’s car, then ran across the intersection and kicked in the Blacks’ front door, which was partially torn from its hinges. The couple’s grandson, who was sleeping on the couch, awoke to see the door broken and his grandfather outside, looking for an intruder.
While walking back to the bedroom where his father and sister were sleeping, the boy said he heard someone in the shower.
“The door to the bathroom opened and K.H. saw a ‘random black guy’ with a ‘delusional look,’” the summary of his interview said. “The guy was naked.”
The boy told investigators Harper forced him inside the bathroom and locked the door before pulling his clothes off of him and throwing him in the shower.
“The guy tried to strangle K.H. and pushed him under the water in the tub,” the summary said. “K.H. fought back. He heard his dad and grandpa trying to break down the bathroom door. There was blood all over the bathroom walls.”
Other interviews, including that of Hayashi, indicated that Harper’s mother, uncle and male cousin followed Gary Black back into his house to get Harper out of there.
Hayashi told detectives that upon learning that Harper had his son in the bathroom, he ran to where his stepfather was trying to get inside. Once they and Harper’s uncle and cousin had the bathroom door broken open, Hayashi could see his son, naked and standing in the bathtub with a naked Harper holding him in a chokehold and biting his ear, the district attorney’s summary said.
“Mr. Hayashi had no weapons, but got into the bathtub and tried to defend his son by grabbing at the black male’s neck and face,” the summary said. “He stuck his right thumb deep into the male’s left eye socket.”
Hayashi tried to get a “wet and slippery” Harper away from his son, at which point he said he saw Harper’s cousin, David Lovelace, “stomping on” Harper. Lovelace told investigators he told his cousin, “Get out of here, they’re going to kill you.”
See a portion of Aurora police officers’ body camera footage from the morning of July 30 below. Warning: The footage, which shows the fatal shooting of homeowner Gary Black, contains graphic images and language.
Harper’s mother, Frances Shanelle Mayfield, screamed, “He’s got the baby!” or something similar, according to multiple interviews.
Hayashi said Harper released his chokehold on his son after a struggle of about a minute to a minute and a half, at which point he pushed the intruder out of the tub. Lovelace remembered it slightly differently, saying he was eventually able to grab his cousin by his foot and pull him from the tub.
By that point, Black had entered the bathroom with his 9mm Luger handgun.
Lovelace left the bathroom prior to Harper being shot, according to his interview. He told detectives that he saw police arriving and pointing weapons into the house, so he put his hands up and told them, “It’s not me.”
That portion of what happened was captured on officers’ body cameras.
Hayashi told investigators that when Black came into the bathroom, Harper picked up a vase and struck his stepfather in the head, causing him to fall into the shower door. His stepfather fired two shots into Harper’s body.
“Mr. Hayashi did not see the gun but saw the muzzle flashes near the male’s midsection,” the summary said. “The male slumped and fell to the floor with his head toward the bathtub.”
Harper was shot at 1:38 a.m., according to body camera footage that captured the gunshots. Ten minutes had elapsed since his family began calling 911 and five minutes since Jeannette Black made her call.
Gary Black left the bathroom, Hayashi said, “presumably to chase the others out of the house.” Hayashi, who was still in the bathtub with his son, heard three gunshots.
He then heard police officers identify themselves, he said.
“At that point, Mr. Hayashi knew the police shot his stepfather,” the summary said.
A few seconds later, officers came into the bathroom, where they gave Hayashi’s son a towel to wrap around his body and led him and his father from the house.
Both saw Black lying unresponsive on the living room floor as they walked by.
The video footage released Tuesday by the Aurora Police Department backed up Black family attorney claims that officers failed to identify themselves to Black prior to the gunshots that took the Army veteran’s life.
The five-minute-long video shows an officer arriving at Black’s home, where a woman outside is heard screaming, “There’s blood everywhere! Oh my God!” Harper’s mother, Shanelle Mayfield, tells the officer, “He’s on some kind of drugs,” and then appears to say something about her son hurting someone.
“Just stay back,” the officer tells her in a gruff voice.
A comparison of the video to the district attorney’s transcripts of several cameras’ footage shows that the officer wearing that camera is Limbaugh.
Read 17th Judicial District Attorney Dave Young’s report on the shooting of Gary Black below.
As Limbaugh gets to the driveway of the home, a woman in a nightgown, later identified as Jeannette Black, is seen walking past, telling the officer, “He’s got guns.”
As Limbaugh approaches the porch, Lovelace is seen exiting the house.
“Is this the guy?” an officer on the porch says. “Who are you?” another voice asks Lovelace.
A second later, the two shots that killed Harper are heard from inside the house.
“Oh, (expletive),” someone says as the officers on the porch move back from the open doorway.
Limbaugh pulls his weapon and activates the flashlight on it, aiming the handgun at the door. There is no movement from inside at first.
“What do you got? What do you got?” an officer asks him.
“Nothing,” Limbaugh responds.
A second or two later, Gary Black emerges from a hallway, wearing a bathrobe.
“Gun! Gun! Drop the gun!” Limbaugh screams.
“Let me see your hands!” another officer yells as Black hovers in the doorway of the hall, appearing to look toward the doorway where officers stand outside. It is unclear if he can see them.
“Drop the gun! Hey! Get your hands in the air!” Limbaugh shouts from his location at the foot of the porch steps.
Black moves to the other side of the hallway door, appearing to take cover. A couple of seconds later, he moves into full view, turning toward the door.
“Guy in a robe’s got the gun,” Limbaugh says.
Black’s gun can be seen in his right hand, which is down at his side. He lifts his left hand, shining a flashlight at the doorway.
Limbaugh fires three shots and Black falls to the living room floor.
“You got it? You got it?” an officer asks Limbaugh.
“Yes,” Limbaugh says, firing another shot at Black. “Drop the gun!”
A few seconds later, another officer asks, “Is he down? Is he down?”
“He’s down. He’s down,” Limbaugh replies.
As Limbaugh approaches the door, a man’s voice can be heard screaming, “No!” repeatedly, though it is unclear if the voice is coming from inside the house or outside. According to reports about that morning, Harper’s family initially believed police officers had killed him.
Limbaugh holds his gun on Black, shouting at him not to move toward his dropped weapon. Black, who lies mostly on his back, can be seen moving for several seconds as the officers determine how to enter the house.
As other officers prepare to go inside, Limbaugh keeps his weapon trained on Black.
“Somebody get some rubber gloves on,” the officer says in a shaky voice. “I’ve got you.”
An officer who spots blood in the vicinity of the front door tells the others to check themselves for gunshot wounds, but Limbaugh tells him no one was hit.
Another officer, identified in documents as Sgt. Patricio Serrant, says in an urgent tone that there was supposed to possibly be a baby inside the house, drowning, so Limbaugh begins to enter the living room. He yells for anyone else in the house to make themselves known.
Black’s grandson can be heard yelling from the bathroom. The mortally wounded Black also speaks up.
“My son and my grandson are in the bathroom with the perpetrator,” he says from the floor.
The public release of Limbaugh’s camera footage ends there, but Young’s summary of events said that the officer went to the bathroom, where the footage showed Hayashi and his son standing in the bathtub and Harper lying dead on the floor. Limbaugh then checks the rest of the house for additional threats.
The second officer’s camera footage begins in the Blacks’ driveway, where members of Harper’s family can be heard telling the officer he is inside “choking a kid.” The officer encounters Jeannette Black, who sounds tearful.
“Please!” she urges the officer, who the district attorney’s transcript identifies as Serrant. “He’s in the bathroom drowning my grandson, I think!”
“Who is? What’s his name?” Serrant asks.
“A drug addict that’s their friend,” Jeannette Black says, indicating Harper’s family. “He broke our house in…”
Her voice trails off as Serrant continues up the steps of the porch, where he encounters Lovelace. As he questions the man, the shots are fired from inside.
As Serrant hurries off the porch toward the home’s garage, he calls in, “Cruiser 13, we got shots fired.”
The sergeant’s body camera shows the shooting from his angle, which shows the broken door of the house and little else. The footage ends as he follows Limbaugh into the house and, with rubber gloves on his hands, approaches Black to offer medical aid.
The event summary said Serrant stayed with Black as other officers cleared the home. When Hayashi and his son came out of the bathroom, he escorted the boy to the front door, where other officers took him outside.
Serrant learned from Black that he was the homeowner.
“I think he was trying to protect, but I don’t know,” Serrant said to other officers, according to the summary. “He had a gun. He wouldn’t drop it.”
Black’s autopsy showed that he was struck by three of Limbaugh’s four shots, according to Young’s summary of the shooting. Bullets entered his body in the right shoulder, the right chest and the upper back.
“The gunshot wounds to the chest and back caused catastrophic injuries to the thoracic spinal cord and internal organs,” the summary said.
The forensic pathologist also found evidence of blunt force trauma, apparently from Black’s encounter with Harper.
Harper was killed by two shots to the chest at close range, his autopsy revealed. He also had abrasions, bruises and superficial cuts on his face, head, neck, chest, back, shoulders arms and hands, presumably from breaking out of his cousin’s house and into the Black home.
The investigation of the case showed that Harper had a “significant history of arrests and convictions, both as a juvenile and an adult,” Young’s summary said. He was most recently arrested for robbery in November 2016, a crime for which he was sentenced the following April to 18 months in jail.
Harper was sent in October 2017 to a state prison on a parole violation but was sent back to county jail in February to complete his misdemeanor sentence in the robbery case.
He was out of jail just over 24 hours when he was shot and killed.
