District Attorney Paul Howard is trying to decide whether to seek an indictment of an Atlanta Police officer who hit and killed a pedestrian who was crossing a street.
Bernard Moore, 62, was struck and killed by a police cruiser while walking across Metropolitan Parkway on the night of March 6. Police initially reported that Officer Christopher Blaise was on was on routine patrol and that Moore was outside the crosswalk.
But a surveillance video from a nearby business showed the patrol car traveling at what appeared to be a high rate of speed without lights or siren, which caused Moore’s family and its lawyers to demand the officer be fired and prosecuted.
Assistant Chief Shawn Jones told The Atlanta Journal Constitution Thursday that the department’s investigation had been turned over to Howard’s office, which received it Tuesday.
Jones said he wasn’t familiar with any reason that would have justified the officer’s speed.
“I’ll say it this way, I don’t think they were on a call,” Jones said. “We’re just waiting on the DA to make a decision.”
Howard said his office would continue to investigate the case to decide whether to seek an indictment.
“Although we are well aware of the two months that have passed since this incident occurred, our decision to seek or not seek an indictment will be guided by the evidence and the law,” Howard said in a prepared statement. “As always, we shall attempt to complete our work in a timely manner.”
Mawuli Mel Davis, an attorney representing Moore’s family, said the police cruiser appeared in the video to be going 70-miles per hour — which he said is twice the posted speed limit for that area — when it hit Moore on Metropolitan Parkway. Davis said the speed showed reckless driving, which would justify a felony indictment for vehicular homicide.
“There were no (blue) lights, no sirens,” Davis said. “You don’t even know its a patrol car until after he hits him and he turns on his lights.”
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