14 DAY TRIAL // A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer has been formally charged for fatally shooting a man surviving a car crash, after dubbing him a robber.
The victim of the accident was looking to get help and knocked on a woman's door. He scared her, as his clothes were dirtied and torn, and she called the police. However, she never let him inside her home.
Officer Randall Kerrick responded to the call, along with two other policemen. The woman had called 911 at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday to report the stranger “banging on the door viciously.”
The “suspect” had left the premises by the time police arrived and they embarked on a search. When they spotted him, he started running towards them, probably enthusiastic about the fact that he would get help.
As they saw him heading for them, officer Thornell Little tried tasering him but was not successful in stopping him.
Kerrick fired his weapon multiple times, killing the man. The Charlotte Observer identifies the victim as 24-year-old Jonathan Ferrell, a former football player for Florida A&M University.
They discovered his damaged vehicle abandoned in the woods near Reedy Creek Road in northeast Charlotte. An investigation revealed that he would have needed to exit it through the back window.
“Our investigation has shown that officer Kerrick did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter,” a police statement reads.
Kerrick has been charged with the voluntary manslaughter of the unarmed man. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Rodney Monroe has apologized to the victim's family for the policeman's actions.
“It’s with heavy hearts and significant regrets it’s come to this. [...] Our hearts go out to the Ferrell family and many members of the CMPD family. This is never something easy,” he says.
He has dubbed the initial approach by the squad “appropriate and lawful,” while specifying that “the shooting of Mr. Ferrell was excessive.”
“I don’t believe threats were made,” Monroe adds.
Officers Kerrick and Adam Neal, also participating in the manhunt, are now on paid administrative leave pending the results of an internal inquiry.