By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com
The FBI is looking into possible civil rights violations in the shooting death of Tarika Wilson, a black woman mortally wounded by a white police officer in Lima, Ohio while holding her infant son, who was also shot.
Sgt. Joseph Chavalia has been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide in the death of 26-year-old Wilson after she was shot during a SWAT raid at her house in January while police were looking for her boyfriend. Chavalia also was charged with misdemeanor negligent assault in the wounding of Wilson’s son Sincere Wilson, whose finger had to be amputated.
The NAACP chapter, ministers and other local leaders in Lima have said the charges against Chavalia should have been more serious.
Chavalia, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, was released on $50,000 bond and faces up to eight months in jail if convicted of both charges.
According to reports, police bashed in the front door of Wilson’s home and entered with guns drawn. Neighbors who saw the raid told reporters that moments later officers opened fire, killing Wilson and wounding the 14-month-old baby, who she was holding in her arms.
Details of what happened between the time police entered the home and when gunfire erupted are unclear. Police and the prosecutor’s office have not released details of the investigation report.
Family members have said Wilson was an innocent, unarmed bystander in the incident.
Police arrested Wilson’s boyfriend, Anthony Terry, on drug charges and said they found suspected marijuana and crack cocaine in the house. He was later indicted on three counts of trafficking in crack cocaine, six counts of permitting drug abuse, and four counts of trafficking in marijuana for incidents occurring between September 2007 and Jan. 4, the day of the raid. He is scheduled to go to trial April 1, according to The (Toledo) Blade.
The Blade also reported that Chavalia had been on the Lima police force since January 1977 and was promoted to sergeant in 1990. A member of the department’s SWAT team since 1986, he wrote a comprehensive use-of-force policy for Lima police in 1990, the newspaper said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Lima in February and met with Lima and Allen County officials. In a news conference after the meeting, he called for charges against Lima police in the incident, saying they used unnecessary and illegal force.
“There must be a deterrent, not just for the man who pulled the trigger, but for those who planned [the raid],” Jackson told reporters.
Mayor David Berger said at the time that while he welcomed Jackson’s visit, he thought the comments about the shooting were divisive and heightened tensions.
“It’s inappropriate and unjustified. He doesn’t have all the facts to make that kind of judgment,” the mayor told The Blade.
Jackson also visited Lima Senior High School to deliver a message of hope to students and met with local clergy and community leaders during the visit.
The grand jury indictments against Chavalia were announced last Monday. He has been suspended with pay pending the conclusion of the case.
Rev. C.M. Manley, pastor of New Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, said last week that a major protest rally was being planned, but no date had been set.
Several smaller protests had been held weekly after the Jan. 4 shooting and many black residents testified at a forum about the shootings led by the Ohio attorney general about what they called abuse at the hands of local police and inequities in the justice system.
Organizers hope a larger rally will result in substantive change.
“We haven’t set a date yet, but we’re going to protest,” Manley told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We’re very disturbed about that because it’s not right. The NAACP and the black ministers are getting together. White people are supporting us, too. They all see this isn’t right.”
Manley said there had been a long history of racial tensions between the black community in Lima, the police and the prosecutor’s office.
“There always has been with young black men,” Manley said. “Almost every young black man in our town has been to prison. You know how they do, the whites get off and the blacks go to prison for things you should get probation on.”
Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima NAACP, said the chapter asked the FBI to investigate and determine whether the case was handled fairly.
"Any time a man shoots through a baby and kills an unarmed woman, and is charged with two misdemeanors, I think it would be an understatement to say that that's unacceptable," he said. "I think it says a lot about the judicial system here in our county, it says a lot about the grand jury."
In addition to her injured son, Wilson is survived by five other children, aged eight and under.
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