The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Tennessee announced today that the office, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and the FBI are working in tandem to investigate the death of Darrius Stewart. Stewart was shot and killed by Memphis Police Officer Connor Schilling following a traffic stop in May 2015. Time reports:
Stewart was shot dead in July, after a car in which he was riding was pulled over by Officer Connor Schilling for a broken headlight. According to reports, the officer let the driver go with a ticket, but noted the 19-year-old had outstanding warrants and held him in the back of a police car. Stewart was not handcuffed when he was placed in the car. The officer says when he opened the car door to arrest Stewart he was attacked and he shot him to protect himself.
Stewart’s family claim the warrants were not for their 19-year-old son and that it was a case of mistaken identity. But local news reports have linked a person with Stewart’s birth date and his mother’s name to at least one of the warrants and officials in Iowa have confirmed one of the warrants to reporters.
A state grand jury declined to indict Schilling in November. According to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Department of Justice has been “conducting an independent, comprehensive, and careful review of the evidence collected related to the shooting of Stewart.”
This case again illustrates the all-too-common route that many unarmed black people take from what should be routine traffic stops to their deaths, and also the black box of police incidents in squad cars. Too often, the only witness left alive to tell the story is the involved officer. More developments from the DOJ investigation will be reported as they happen.