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Saturday 8 June 2019
'I was wrong': Officer who shot 911 caller gets 12½ years

By STEVE KARNOWSKI convicted. Philip Stinson,
Associated Press a criminal justice profes-
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A sor at Bowling Green State
former Minneapolis police University in Ohio, who has
officer who shot and killed tracked the arrests from on-
an unarmed woman who duty police shootings from
had called 911 said Friday 2005-2019, said only three
he "knew in an instant that other officers have been
I was wrong" and apolo- convicted of murder in that
gized to her family, just period, with an average
moments before a judge sentence almost identical
brushed off a defense re- to Noor's.
quest for leniency and or- Nineteen other officers
dered him to prison for 12½ convicted of manslaughter
years. in that period had an aver-
The stiff sentence for Mo- age sentence of six years
hamed Noor capped and two months, he said.
a case that had been Noor is the only Minnesota
fraught by race from the officer to be convicted in
start. Noor, a Somali Ameri- an on-duty shooting in re-
can, shot Justine Ruszczyk cent history.
Damond , a white, upper- Tom Plunkett, Noor's at-
middle-class dual citizen Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor reads a statement Friday, June 7, 2019, in Min- torney, had asked Quain-
neapolis, before being sentenced by Judge Kathryn Quaintance in the fatal shooting of Justine
of the U.S. and Australia, Ruszczyk Damond. tance for a sentence as
when she approached his Associated Press lenient as probation. He
squad car in the alley be- described Noor's desire to
hind her home in July 2017. him of third-degree murder black and the officers were for the first time, apologized become a police officer
Noor, 33, testified at trial and second-degree man- white. And Noor's convic- repeatedly to Damond in part to repay a debt he
that a loud bang on the slaughter. tion came after Jeronimo and her family for "taking felt to the country that took
squad car startled him Some people in Minneapo- Yanez, a Latino officer, was the life of such a perfect him in long ago as a refu-
and his partner and that lis' large Somali commu- cleared of manslaughter person." gee.
he fired to protect his part- nity and the larger black in the 2016 death of black "I have lived with this and "I have never stood up at
ner's life. But prosecutors community argued the motorist Philando Castile in I'll continue to live with this," sentencing with anyone my
criticized Noor for shooting case was handled differ- a nearby suburb. Noor said. "I caused this entire career that's done
without seeing a weapon ently from police shoot- Ahmed Nur carried a sign tragedy and it is my bur- more or worked harder to
or Damond's hands, and ings across the country at the courthouse that den. I wish though that I be a good person, to earn
in April, a jury convicted in which the victims were had the words "Black, Mus- could relieve that burden the gifts he's been given,"
lim, Immigrant and Guilty" others feel from the loss Plunkett said. "That's who
with boxes checked next that I caused. I cannot, Mohamed Noor is."
to each word. He said he and that is a troubling real- But prosecutor Amy Sweasy
doubted a white officer ity for me." called for the recommend-
would have been treated Noor said he was horrified ed 12½ years. She noted
the same in Noor's situation. to see Damond's body on that Damond had called
"There will be many cases the ground. 911 seeking help.
after this where a white of- "The depth of my error "And it was the defendant's
ficer kills a black kid. It will has only increased from responsibility when he en-
happen," Nur said. "Then that moment on," he said. countered her in that alley
what are you gonna do? "Working to save her life to investigate and appre-
Because now we set a and watching her slip away ciate and discern that be-
precedent saying if you is a feeling I can't explain. I fore he pulled the trigger,"
kill someone, you will be can say it leaves me sad, she said. "That was his re-
prosecuted. You will go to it leaves me numb, and a sponsibility, and his failure
jail. Are you going to do feeling of incredibly lonely. to do that is what resulted
the same things for those But none of that, none of in the criminal act."
cops?" those words, capture what Justine's father, John Ruszc-
Friday's sentencing was it truly feels like." zyk, in a statement read in
marked by emotional Noor's attorneys had ar- court, asked for the maxi-
statements from Noor, Da- gued for a sentence as mum sentence and called
mond's fiance and his son, light as probation, but her killing "an obscene act
and her family in Australia, Judge Kathryn Quaintance by an agent of the state."
who said they continue to swept that aside for a term Don Damond, Justine Da-
struggle with the loss of a identical to state sentenc- mond's fiance, said in court
kind and generous person ing guidelines. Friday that every time he
who had filled their lives "The act may have been sees the alley where she
with joy and laughter. Da- based on a miscalculation, walked barefoot and in her
mond was a 40-year-old life but it was an intentional pajamas toward the police
coach who was due to be act," Quaintance said. car he relives the moment.
married a month after her "Good people sometimes "In my mind I beg you to turn
death. do bad things." around," he said, speaking
Located at Divi Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort Noor, his voice breaking It's rare for police officers of a "lost future" of decades
J.E. Irausquin Blvd. 75, Palm Beach several times as he spoke to be charged for on- filled with "love, family, joy
For more information call 586-6066 ext.7002 publicly about the shooting duty shootings, let alone and laughter." q