Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 12-13-19

Feature
Attorney Of Teenager Shot By Deputy Responds To Sheriff’s Statement
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Earlier this year, an unidentified Black youth was shot by a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy. The teenager survived, but was left paralyzed.
The incident began around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 26th. Deputies responded to the Jasmine Terrace Apart- ments on Skipper Road, in reference to the domestic vi- olence complaint.
According to the Hills- borough County Sheriff’s Of- fice, two 9-1-1 calls were received. The callers stated that two people had been at- tacked.
When the deputies ar- rived, they were told that a 17-year-old had hit his sister and “knocked out his mother.”
The callers told police no weapons were involved, but one of the victims was bleed- ing. The callers also said the suspect had left the area on foot.
Several minutes later,
Deputy Daniel Estanis- lau made contact with the suspect.
Police said, “At the time, Deputy Estanislau be- came in fear for his safety and due to his belief that the suspect possessed a weapon, he then ordered the suspect to “drop the gun, drop the gun.”
Deputy Estanislau
then fired two rounds from his service weapon, striking the suspect once in the upper body. When investigators ar- rived at the scene, no weapon was found.
The teenager was trans- ported to Tampa General
Hospital, where he was listed in critical, but stable condi-
tion.
Sheriff Chad Chronister Releases Statement
In a press release, Hills- borough County Sheriff Chad Chronister stated, “The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has com- pleted its review of the deputy-involved shooting in- cident which took place on March 26, 2019 at 1028 Skipper Road. Following a thorough internal and exter- nal review process, the ac- tions of Deputy Daniel Estanislau were found to be consistent with HCSO policies and procedures.
“While this situation did not result in a loss of life, anytime a deputy is required to make a split-second deci- sion to deploy deadly force is a tragedy. We expect our deputies to be public ser- vants of the highest merit and mindful that any indi- vidual who encounters a deputy and is then the sub- ject of deadly force is some- one’s son or daughter, brother or sister, spouse, or grandchild. We know that the tragic situation that un- folded on March 26 cannot be undone and that our in- ternal review of this incident had to be thorough, objective and transparent to the com- munity.
“Our internal review in- cluded reports and state- ments, surveillance video from nearby businesses, audio recordings of 9-1-1 calls and forensic evidence. This same evidence was also reviewed at the Office of the State Attorney through a Grand Jury, which deter- mined that Deputy Es-
ATTORNEY MICHAEL T. DAVIS
tanislau perceived an im- minent threat of death or great bodily harm that day.
“This matter was pre- sented to our Shooting Re- view Board. The Shooting Review Board is another mechanism to ensure that HCSO policies and pro- cedures are being followed and that we are providing as much transparency to the community as possible. This Shooting Review Board was comprised of all department heads of HCSO, legal coun- sel, and members of the pub- lic including representatives of our Black, Hispanic and Indian Advisory Councils and the local NAACP presi- dent.
Each person on this board was committed to thoroughly reviewing all in- formation available before making a decision on the in- cident. The Shooting Review Board convened today and concluded that Deputy Es- tanislau’s actions on March 26, 2019 were justified.
These conclusions do not change that a tragedy oc- curred. We are committed to making sure the community has access to all of the infor- mation available, and we
CHAD CHRONISTER Hillsborough County Sheriff
continue to be in touch with the young man’s attorneys about this incident.
“While the evidence in this matter is clear, our agency is taking steps to help bring even greater clarity in the future when one of our deputies is faced with a dan- gerous threat and forced to deploy a service weapon. We believe body camera technol- ogy that captures video footage of incidents when a deputy finds it is necessary to use a firearm will add even greater transparency and certainty to our review process.
“The decision to bring this technology to our office was in discussion prior to the incident on March 26, and we have now entered the testing and evaluation phase with two companies. We are taking steps to secure this technology in the coming months, and we will con- tinue to invest the necessary resources to best serve our deputies and the commu- nity,” he concluded.
Statement Of Attorney Michael T. Davis
The family of the uniden- tified teenager is being rep- resented by Attorney Michael T. Davis, of Michael T. Davis & Benedict P. Kuehne, Kuehne Davis Law, P.A. of Miami.
In response to the state- ment released by Sheriff Chad Chronister, Attor- ney Michael Davis re- leased the following statement on behalf of the family.
“We were surprised to learn that the Shooting Re- view Board met this morn- ing. We received no notice of the Board’s meeting and were given no opportunity to speak to the Sheriff’s repre- sentatives and community leaders assembled to decide if the shooting of an un- armed and innocent Black teenager in the back was jus- tified.
“It is shocking that no one with intimate knowledge of the facts was invited to speak on the teen’s behalf, despite the Sheriff’s personal knowledge that the teen was represented by capable counsel. We do not consider this to be a transparent process.
“Sadly, the decision is not surprising. Public records re- veal that for the past five years, the Sheriff’s Office has justified the use of deadly force in every instance, no matter how shocking and tragic the outcomes. So long as this Board continues to meet in secret, without transparency, and concealed from the victim’s representa- tive, justice will never be served and HCSO law en- forcement personnel will never be held accountable for unnecessary police shoot- ings.
“The innocent teen re- mains confined to his home, recovering mentally and physically from his injuries. He is forever paralyzed from the chest down. His entire life will never be the same. He remains appreciative of the community’s continued thoughts and prayers, and rightfully seeks justice for what has been done to him,” Attorney Davis said.
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