Former Atlanta police Officer Keisha Richburg denies stealing — or even seeing — $500 in a fatal shooting victim's wallet, despite body camera footage appearing to show otherwise, according to an Atlanta police administrative investigation.
The denial was cited in the investigation as an Atlanta Police Department policy violation, which ultimately caused Richburg to be fired Monday.
Richburg responded to a June 19 shooting at Marietta Road in northwest Atlanta, where Jamel Harris, 29, was wounded from a gunshot to the head. Harris was taken to a hospital, where he died, AJC.com previously reported.
Leilani Collier had stopped to help Harris before police arrived, and she took his wallet out of his pocket to identify him, she told police. Inside the wallet, she saw a wad of folded cash, which she did not count but estimated to be around $500.
She handed Harris’ wallet and phone to emergency service personnel on the scene, the investigation said.
Richburg’s body camera footage shows a Grady EMT opening the wallet, putting the folded money inside, closing it and handing it to Richburg.
When investigators showed Richburg this clip, she said she could not tell if it was money.
“I don’t know what he put in the wallet, but he did put somethin’ in the wallet,” she said in the investigation.
The footage shows Richburg taking the wallet from the EMT and putting it and the phone in her patrol vehicle. She walked back and forth from the vehicle multiple times with the belongings in the front seat.
It is not clear if there was money in the wallet when it is seen in subsequent body footage shots.
Investigators interviewed the EMT, who said he was “90% sure it was money,” the investigation said.
Collier told Lanique Harris, the victim’s pregnant widow, about the money. She called Collier later and said police told her there was no money in the wallet.
“We have a mortgage to pay,” Lanique Harris told Channel 2 Action News after the incident. “We have funeral expenses. He didn’t have life insurance, just that money would have really helped us.”
Collier posted about the incident on Facebook, which prompted the investigation.
Richburg told investigators she did not take inventory of the belongings, so she does not know if there was money in the wallet. She left the items unattended in her patrol car and did not account for them, according to the investigation. That was considered another policy violation.
“The one thing I could have done differently in this situation was inventoried the property before I placed it in my vehicle,” Richburg told investigators.
Investigators also conducted a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, or lie detector, test on Richburg. The test noted that Richburg lied during the two relevant questions: “Did you receive a wallet containing money from personnel on the shooting incident you responded to?” and “Did you take money from the victim’s wallet?”
Because of those results, investigators determined she violated the truthfulness policy of APD.
The investigation also found Richburg was in violation of APD’s policy of being insensitive while telling Lanique Harris about her husband’s condition.
“Officer integrity goes to the heart of what we do here every single day,” police Chief Erika Shields said in a statement. “It’s imperative the public have trust in our word and our actions. It’s extremely disappointing to see the victim of a fatal shooting be victimized twice by the actions of one of our officers.”
Vince Champion of the Atlanta Police Union said the termination was decided too hastily.
“I think they jumped to conclusions at this point,” Champion told Channel 2.
Since there is no evidence Richburg stole the money, Champion thinks the incident needs to be looked into further.
“No, and I don’t think she stole money,” he told Channel 2. “Was it misplaced? Could it have fallen out if something happened? Sure, but I don’t think you’re dealing with a police officer that stole money for their own personal gain.”
Once the investigation is complete, the department will turn it over to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for review.
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