Family to meet with DA over Union City police shooting

By Steve Visser

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Relatives of Ariston Waiters, killed by Union City police in December, plan to meet with Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard Wednesday to contest police statements released last week that Waiters was shot after a struggle for the officer's weapon.

Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com Freda Waiters, the mother of Ariston Waiters, speaks to a crowd of more than 100 protesters below a sign of her son during the city council meeting at City Hall in Union City on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012.

Tuesday night's city council meeting became heated when councilwoman Angelette Mealing intervened as Union City Mayor Ralph Moore said that the DA's office had completed its investigation into the shooting, Channel 2 Action News reported.

She addressed the Waiters family, saying, "The truth is they don't want me to tell you that I'm sorry. They don't want me to say we should've offered our condolences," Channel 2 said. She also called for an internal investigation of the entire police department.

An autopsy showed Waiters died of two gunshots to the back. He was fleeing police during a fight in a Union City subdivision after somebody had fired a shot into the air. No gun was found on Waiters.

Marcus Coleman, founder National Action Network Atlanta Chapter, said Howard planned to meet with the Waiters family Wednesday and he predicted it would be difficult for the prosecutor to find that the officer acted in self-defense as police contend.

?I would like to see them recreate how struggling for a weapon, you get shot in the back twice," he said. " I don?t know if the creative artist is creative enough."

About 70 people showed up at Union City City Hall prior to Tuesday's council meeting to protest the shooting and the investigation into it. Civil rights groups are demanding that Howard indict the Union City officer who killed Waiters, 19, the second young African American to be shot in the back by police in Fulton County since October.

Both shootings are being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and by Howard's public integrity unit. Rally organizers promised to target Howard and Union City officials in elections if the officer isn't indicted and reforms aren't made in the police department.

?We intend to press this thing to the limit. We?ll wait for Paul Howard but we?re not waiting exclusively for him," said organizer Derrick Boazman before the rally. "This is a violation of this young man?s civil rights. We?ll go to the justice department.?

Howard received the GBI's findings on Friday. A day later, Union City police released a statement alleging for the first time that Ariston Waiters "grabbed the officer's service weapon" as he was being handcuffed.

"During the struggle, our officer discharged his service weapon mortally wounding Waiters," Union City police said in the statement.

In their latest statement, Union City police said witnesses claimed Waiters had fired shots into the air during a fight in the Hickory Park subdivision.

Howard's office released a statement Tuesday saying the case was still under investigation. Howard's office is also investigating the October shooting Joetavius Stafford, 19, by at MARTA police officer.

Howard has shown a willingness to seek indictments against police officers if he determined there was wrong doing.

Boazman also argued that the case was about police misconduct as much as a questionable shooting. He noted Union City police have admitted that the officer who shot Waiters attended the police interviews with the witnesses, a break in standard investigative procedure.

Officials also denied allegations of witness intimidation, saying the GBI was informed immediately and had agents in Union City that same evening. An investigator from the Fulton D.A.'s office was also present, police say.

Mawuli Davis, the lawyer for the Waiters family, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he has not seen the GBI report, which was not made available to the media.

--Staff writer Christian Boone and dispatch editor Angel K. Brooks contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/family-to-meet-with-1306380.html?cxtype=rss_atlanta

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