A judge on Tuesday denied bail to a deputy fired in the shooting of a Black US Air Force Aviator who opened the door to his apartment holding a gun pointed at the ground.
Former Okaloosa County Deputy Eddie Duran, 38, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter with a firearm in the May 3 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Roger Fortson. The rare charge against a Florida law enforcement officer is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The judge ordered his detention until a pretrial detention hearing scheduled for Thursday, despite objections from his lawyer, who said he should be released now.
“They know he’s going to show up.” attorney Rod Smith “We believe he is not a flight risk, not a flight risk. He will report on Thursday, he will report at any time, he does not need to spend time in jail in the next few days.”
After the hearing, Smith told The Associated Press that he came to represent Duran on the legal team of the Florida Deputy Sheriffs Association. It is a nonprofit that provides benefits and services to deputy sheriffs, he said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon.
Smith said he and other defense attorneys disagreed with the decision to charge Duran with a crime.
“I would say we’ve looked at the case and we believe this is a case where we disagree with the state and we’re going to proceed from there and let the judge and jury make that decision,” Smith said.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office initially said Duran fired in self-defense after encountering a gunman, but Sheriff Eric Aden Duran was fired on May 31 after an internal investigation concluded his life was not in danger when he opened fire. Outside law enforcement experts They also said an officer cannot shoot simply because a potential suspect is holding a gun if there is no threat.
Fortson had spoken with his girlfriend in a FaceTime video call that recorded audio of the encounter, and Duran’s body camera video showed what happened.
Duran had been dispatched to Fortson’s Fort Walton Beach apartment in response to a report of a domestic disturbance that turned out to be false. After knocking several times, Fortson opened the door while holding his handgun at his side, pointed downrange. Authorities say Duran shot him multiple times and then told Fortson to drop the gun.
According to the internal affairs report, Duran told investigators that when Fortson opened the door, he saw aggression in the airman’s eyes. He said he fired because he was standing there thinking, I’m about to get shot, I’m about to die.
Weeks passed after the shooting before the sheriff released an incident report, 911 records or the identity of the officer, despite requests for information under Florida’s Open Records Act and pressure from the family’s attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
THE fatal shot at airman in his off-base apartment in the Florida Panhandle was one of many killings of black people by law enforcement in their own homes as they went about their daily lives. Fortson’s death also A renewed debate on whether Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law has fostered a climate of “shoot first” vigilantism in which gun owners operate with impunity, killing largely black people.
Hundreds of air force personnel in ceremonial dress joined The Fortson Familyfriends and others at his funeral at a suburban Atlanta megachurch. Fortson is originally from DeKalb County, Georgia, where his family lives east of the Atlanta metro area.
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Martin reported from Atlanta. Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida.
