A civil grand jury in Douglas County has recommended against prosecution of a county sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a man at a Douglasville trailer park in December.
Douglas Sheriff's Deputy James Barber shot and killed Bobby Daniels, a CNN security guard and Navy veteran, four days before Christmas 2015. According to a GBI investigation, Daniels was shot as he tried to wrestle a gun away from his son, named Bias. The GBI said that, at some point during the struggle, the gun was pointed at Deputy Barber who, fearing for his safety, shot Bobby Daniels in the side with his rifle. Daniels, 48, died at the scene.
Attorney Chris Stewart, who represents Daniels’ wife and five children, has disputed those findings. He said he believes there is enough evidence to charge Barber in the shooting.
“We have two eyewitnesses who said Mr. Daniels wasn’t even near the gun when the shooting happened, ” Stewart said.
In a presentment issued late Friday, the civil grand jury concluded that “Deputy Barber’s use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances he was facing at the time of the shooting (and) the grand jury recommends that no further action be taken in this matter.”
With that recommendation, Douglas District Attorney Brian Fortner declared the matter closed.
Fortner said in a statement: “In the days that follow, our community must realize that this is a tragic situation that we should all learn from. It is not a situation involving an overly aggressive law enforcement officer. The Douglas County deputies were able to talk Bias into putting his gun down, without firing a shot, before the incident took a tragic turn.”
Fortner’s statement included a detailed account of the incident, including this passage:
All of the deputies had their weapons drawn and pointed at both men. At that time, none of the deputies knew who Bobby was or what his intentions were in grabbing the pistol. Bobby and Bias were actively wrestling over the pistol and both of them appeared to have their hands on or near it during the struggle.
As they fought over the pistol, it was moving around and at some point the barrel was pointed in the direction of deputies. Deputy Barber felt that the lives of the deputies and Bias were in danger so he fired one round from his rifle. That round struck Bobby Daniels in his left side. Bobby fell to the ground and the pistol fell at the same time. Bias then picked up the pistol and ran off. Deputy Barber fired a round at Bias but he missed.
The civil grand jury said it had reviewed 911 calls, video footage from the Arbor Village Mobile Home Park, dashcam videos, toxicology reports and Barber’s personnel records. It said it heard testimony from the GBI investigator and four sheriff’s officers, not including Barber, who responded to the scene.
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