11 September 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Azelle inquiry must answer tough questions

by: Helen Shaw
published: 4 September 2012

The public inquiry into the fatal shooting by Metropolitan police of Azelle Rodney opened on Monday.

This is the first time a public inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act has been commissioned to examine a death involving police use of lethal force – such deaths are normally scrutinised at an inquest in front of a jury.

Susan Alexander, Rodney’s mother, together with the other members of his family, have already waited more than seven years for answers to their questions. Rodney was shot six times at point blank range while sitting in a car that had been stopped by officers.

11 September 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Too many questions in handcuff suicide, say attorney

by: The Final Call
published: 4 September 2012

The family of a man shot while handcuffed behind his back continues to refute police claims that he committed suicide.

As the Jonesboro Police Department in Arkansas released more information, more questions arose about who shot 21-year-old Chavis Carter, said his family and friends. Unfortunately, all of the facts may remain a mystery until a civil or criminal trial, family attorney Benjamin Irwin said.

Police released a dash cam video, of what they called a reenactment of how the alleged suicide could have occurred, and said they interviewed Mr. Carter’s girlfriend. According to police, the girlfriend said the deceased called her saying he had a gun and was afraid.

29 August 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Why did police shoot dead an unarmed man 7 years ago?

by: Defend the Right to Protest
published: 29 August 2012

Police officers have shot dead 41 men and one woman in the past 15 years. Some of the names on that list, Mark Duggan, Jean Charles de Menezes and Mark Saunders, have become household names after the controversies surrounding their deaths were exposed.

Another name on that list, Azelle Rodney, is not engrained into the public consciousness. But, with a public inquiry into his death due to open on Monday, seven years after he was shot at close range six times by an officer known only as E7, it could soon be.

Mr Rodney, a 24-year-old black man, was in the back of a Volkswagen Golf when it was stopped by three police vehicles carrying 14 specialist firearm officers from the Met’s elite C019 armed unit in April 2005.