A former Alabama police officer has been charged with murder in the shooting death of Stephen Perkins, a black man who confronted a tow truck driver while trying to recover his truck.
Mac Bailey Marquette, 23, formerly an officer with the Decatur Police Department, turned himself in Thursday at the county jail and was booked on a warrant for murder, Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson announced. at a news conference on Friday.
“It’s not easy for me to be in a position to prosecute an officer, but under these circumstances, it’s the right thing to do,” Anderson told reporters.
Marquette was photographed smiling in a mugshot, before being released from the Morgan County Jail on $30,000 bail Friday morning.
Marquette’s arrest came less than two weeks after the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) provided the district attorney’s office with the findings of its months-long investigation into the fatal shooting involving the official.
Mac Bailey Marquette, 23, was charged with murder for the shooting death of a black man. Stephen Perkins, 39, of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, was killed outside his home while attempting to stop the recovery of his pickup truck. Facebook/Clay Perkins
Three other officers who were involved in the incident, Christopher Mukkadam, Joey Williams and Vance Summers, do not face criminal charges because they did not shoot Perkins, Anderson said.
Perkins, 39, was shot and killed by an officer, later identified as Marquette, outside his home in Decatur on September 29, after a tow truck driver who had come to transport the victim’s vehicle told the police accompanying him that he had been threatened with a gun.
Perkins was armed with a handgun equipped with a light and “brandished the weapon at an officer,” prompting him to open fire, the ALEA said in a statement issued in September.
Surveillance video from a neighbor showed Perkins’ GMC Sierra being towed as he lay dying on the ground. WAFF48
Surveillance video from a neighbor’s home released by WAFF in November captured a volley of bullets fired at Perkins.
The video also shows the victim’s truck being cruelly towed as he lay dying on the ground, just steps from his home.
An attorney for Perkins’ family claimed the officer immediately opened fire on the homeowner, who did not appear to be aware of the police presence on his property, according to the video.
The man’s family also said the payments on his GMC Sierra truck were up to date, so they were trying to stop the repossession.
Perkins’ family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against police officers and city officials. The murder of Family Handout Perkins sparked protests and marches in Decatur. AP
Perkins was a married father of two who worked for a pet food manufacturer and had a mostly clean criminal record, aside from a DUI arrest more than a decade ago, NBC News previously reported.
Perkins’ murder was followed by months of protests and marches in Decatur.
The man’s family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the police officers involved in the shooting and Decatur city officials.
Marquette was fired from the Decatur police. Decatur Alabama Police Department
Three of the officers, including Marquette, were fired last month and the fourth was suspended without pay.
The four officers have appealed decisions regarding their employment, and hearings for those appeals were scheduled to begin later this month.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn