The taped interview with the Washington, D.C., police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old African American youth one year ago has been released for the first time. The content of the tape provide yet more irrefutable evidence of a cover-up.
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On Sept. 17, 2007, Rawlings was accosted by James Haskell and Anthony Clay, two off-duty cops driving in Haskell’s 1999 Chevy Tahoe SUV. They claimed Rawlings was riding Haskell’s stolen minibike. Moments later, Haskell shot Rawlings in the back of the head, killing him. Officer Clay then drove away in the SUV at Haskell’s request, leaving the scene of the crime.
The officers claimed Rawlings shot at them, yet no gun was ever found. They did not bother to check on the youth’s condition or call for an ambulance. The allegedly stolen minibike disappeared, but showed up three days later several miles away in Upper Marlboro, Md.
An autopsy report revealed that Rawlings had cuts, bruises and signs of blunt force trauma, primarily on the left side of his face, shoulders and back. It also noted there was no gunpowder residue or soot on his fingers, casting greater doubt on police allegations that he had fired a weapon.
In the recently revealed taped interview, Haskell confirms that he and Clay, who were not in uniform, never identified themselves as police officers when they confronted Rawlings. Haskell states that the youth fired his weapon—which the police department would later say was a .45 caliber semiautomatic—over his left shoulder while running.
Gregory L. Lattimer, the attorney for the DeOnté family who specializes in police brutality cases, pointed out the absurdity of Haskell’s story. “You’ve got a kid who is 5-foot-2, weighs 105 pounds, supposedly firing a powerful .45-caliber semiautomatic with one hand like it was a toy,” he said. “But nobody can find the gun. There are no shell casings found within 100 feet of where the shooting supposedly began, and there is not a trace of residue, gunpowder or soot on Rawlings or his clothes, even though he was wearing a white T-shirt and muzzle fire was supposedly coming out over his shoulder.”
Racist police violence is nothing new, but the killing of Rawlings touched a nerve in the community and sparked widespread outrage. Community members held vigils and protests in the Condon Terrace neighborhood where Rawlings had lived and died.
Questions remain
Cornered by the public, Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier swung into full damage-control mode following the killing. Fenty let Rawlings’ grieving sisters, Luella, Sabrina and Michelle, share the microphone at a press conference in September 2007. He promised to let Rawlings’ family know the results of an independent federal investigation.
Since then, investigations by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office have exonerated Haskell and Clay. But the disturbing questions about the incidents of that violent night and the cynical maneuvering of the Fenty administration refuse to go away.
The family, not trusting Fenty’s assurances that justice would be done, decided to fight back. Lattimer filed a $100 million wrongful death civil lawsuit against the city on their behalf.
After all the promises of a full accounting of the killing, the city government has refused to release the details of the investigation report, claiming it includes information that cannot be released to the public. Police chief Lanier has welcomed Haskell and Clay back to active duty, and Fenty has expressed his support of the investigations.
Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy recently noted that Mayor Fenty had pledged to keep DeOnté’s father, Charles Rawlings, informed about the investigation. Now that those official inquiries are over, Milloy asked Mr. Rawlings if he had heard from Fenty or Lanier. “I call and leave messages,” Rawlings replied, “but they don’t call back.”
