A convenience store video of police officers arresting a man last week minutes before he was fatally shot while handcuffed does not clear up the killing’s key point of contention: whether the suspect had a gun before he was placed into the back of a police cruiser.
The video of events on the morning of Sept. 18 shows three officers rushing into US Foods on Augusta Avenue in Savannah, where 29-year-old Charles Smith was making a purchase. The officers wrestle Smith to the floor, the video shows, and he is handcuffed and escorted to a police cruiser driven by Officer David Jannot.
After Smith is patted for weapons on the sidewalk by two officers, the officers return into the store, where they appear to search the floor and behind a freezer, the video shows. Jannot drives off with Smith in the back seat. Within minutes, the officers wearing plain clothes who had arrested Smith run toward the scene of the shooting two blocks away, the video shows.
The tape, released Tuesday by the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and the city attorney’s office, does not show the actual shooting.
Witnesses told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that they saw Smith kick out the window of the cruiser as it was moving. Once Jannot stopped the car, he confronted Smith. Witnesses said the officer yelled, “Do you want to die?” before he shot Smith multiple times in the legs and the head while Smith attempted to escape through the window. They said they did not see Smith handling a gun.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said there was a gun under Smith’s body after he was presumably shot by Jannot. Its investigation is ongoing.
Jannot, on the force for 10 years, has been placed on administrative leave with pay and has made no public comment.
Neither the police department nor the GBI, which is investigating the shooting at the behest of the interim police chief, has explained how Smith could have been carrying a gun after officers took him into custody, cuffed his hands behind his back and put him in a patrol car. They have not disclosed the weapon's make or caliber. Nor have they said how many times Smith was shot, from what distance, or where on his body the bullets struck. They also have not released the results of the autopsy performed last Friday.
Smith’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Second Arnold Missionary Baptist Church in Savannah.
Protests have been held every day since the shooting. But a Tuesday night rally ended badly after a county mosquito control division helicopter accidentally sprayed demonstrators with insecticide.
Pete Nichols, a Chatham County spokesman, said the spraying has been ongoing since August, when officials found evidence of the West Nile virus in the area. He said the insecticide was not sprayed directly onto protesters, but county officials think the mist was carried by the wind.
“We would have stayed clear of the area if we had known where the marchers were,’’ Nichols said, adding that while police officials usually tell them beforehand where people are congregating outdoors so they don’t spray there, his office did not receive a call until after Tuesday’s incident.
Marilyn Jackson, a Savannah resident in her 50s, said by phone Wednesday she was at Tuesday’s rally when her eyes and throat became irritated. She said some top city officials were also in the crowd when “children began screaming and crying.’’
She said she was told later that insecticide was sprayed by county mosquito control workers in a yellow helicopter. “That’s the same helicopter that has been flying above the protesters since Day One,’’ Jackson said. “I think they are really getting tired of us marching.”
Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap said Tuesday it could be two months or more before the GBI completes its investigation.
Heap said she will present the findings to a grand jury, invite Jannot to testify, and instruct the grand jury to call witnesses and conduct a “fact finding” inquiry if they have additional questions. “I’ve asked the GBI to leave no stone unturned,” she said.
Police spokesman Julian Miller the department released the arrest video and Jannot’s employment and internal affairs records because the city has “nothing to hide.’’
The records show Jannot was accused of using excessive force numerous times but was exonerated in each case.
The records also reveal Smith’s arrest on Sept. 18 stemmed from an incident two weeks prior in which several officers said Smith failed to obey commands to stop driving a stolen vehicle in the West Savannah neighborhood where he lived. Warrants were issued for Smith’s arrest on Sept. 8th, the records show.
According to documents obtained by The AJC, Smith had an extensive criminal record. He was also a "runner" who often evaded police in his neighborhood, his sister Katherine Smith, 28, told The AJC.
But on the morning of Smith’s death, the arrest video proves Smith wasn’t armed, said the Rev. Leonard Small, who represents Smith’s family. “His pants were loose. His shirt was up to his elbows for all to see. He did not have a gun,’’ Small said.
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