DA Heap’s saga with police shootings seeks transparency

Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap has used a combination of Georgia Bureau of Investigation review and the local grand jury civil system in her handling of police-involved shootings to provide transparency and uniformity in such cases.

"We first asked the grand jury to exercise their civil powers after the 2014 officer-involved shooting," Heap said of the first case, the 2014 shooting death of Charles Smith.

She has pursued other fatal shootings involving police in a similar manner.

"The decision to use the civil powers of the grand jury again was to ensure the continued transparency for all involved — for the family of the deceased, for the officers that were shot and the community at large," Heap said.

She said the grand jurors have two options in the cases:

• Recommend that an indictment be prepared then presented to them.

• Determine that no further investigation is needed — that use of force in the case was justified.

They included:

• Sept. 18, 2014: Charles Smith, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and killed as he tried to escape police custody after he was arrested on outstanding warrants at an Augusta Avenue convenience store. After he was placed in a police car, his hands handcuffed behind him, Smith managed to get his hands in front of him, kicked out a window in the police cruiser and tried to flee.

A grand jury determined that David Jannot, a white, 10-year veteran Savannah officer who shot and killed Smith, used justifiable force in the incident after he “felt threatened by Smith's erratic behavior," the grand jury found, adding "Smith posed a threat to public safety."

The grand jury found that Smith had a handgun in his hand when he exited the police car, the gun belonged to Smith and he was not surrendering the weapon.

And the grand jury cited Jannot’s testimony that Smith pointed the gun as if to fire it in a public place.

Heap followed the grand jury’s recommendation that “justifiable force was used and no further criminal action should be taken based on that decision."

• Jan. 23, 2018: The fatal police shooting of Ricky Boyd, 20, outside his home at 113 Marian Circle where Savannah-Chatham police and U.S. marshals’ task force members were serving arrest warrants for murder in the Jan. 21 shooting death of Balil Whitfield, 24, on Hudson Street during a drug transaction.

Savannah police Sgt. Sean Wilson was shot three times and wounded during the incident. Eight law enforcement officers fired 23 times during the incident.

The grand jury found the death was justified to prevent Boyd’s use of a deadly firearm on law enforcement officers and others. They found that Boyd was "likely aware that when he pointed the BB pistol at armed law enforcement officers that they would shoot and likely kill him."

Boyd’s weapon was identified as a CO2 powered BB air gun that appeared to officers as a "real weapon," the grand jury found.

Wilson's gunshot wounds were inflicted accidentally by gunfire from a deputy U.S. Marshal who was shooting in the direction of Boyd. Evidence showed that the bullets that caused those wounds ricocheted off the house.

• May 11, 2019: Savannah Police Sgt. Kelvin Ansari, 50, was fatally shot while responding to a robbery call at Boyz II Men barber shop near the intersection of Bull and East 39th streets.

The robbery suspect, Edward Fuller, 49, shot and killed Ansari, then was shot and killed by police gunfire.

The grand jury found that "Fuller got out of the car with a gun in his hand. Sgt. Ansari never pulled his weapon. Fuller fired his gun twice at Sgt. Ansari from a short distance striking him twice in the abdomen. Officer (Douglas) Thomas also was shot by Fuller."

Subsequently six Savannah police officers entered the backyard at 19 E. 39th St., single file, and Fuller then pointed a pistol in the direction of two officers causing the officers to be "in reasonable apprehension ... (they) were in immediate danger of receiving a violent injury,” the grand jury found.

“Officer (Austin) Foraker fired his gun four times, striking and killing Edward Fuller," the grand jury found.

"The grand jury unanimously concluded that Officer Foraker was justified in using deadly force and that no further inquiry is needed because the evidence does not support the filing of criminal charges in this case," the grand jury said and added, the case involved "use of deadly force by a peace officer in Chatham County resulting in death or serious bodily injury to another."

• July 27, 2017: Chantz Alexander Cooper, 20, was indicted in October 2018 on felony murder and related charges in the death of his grandmother, Cynthia Ann Fields, who was shot while Cooper exchanged gunfire with police.

Fields was inside her Stratford Street home when she was struck by a gunshot and subsequently died at the scene. Cooper also was shot.

Among the charges were two counts of aggravated assault in the exchange of gunfire with police.

The same grand jury, in a related civil finding, determined that "eight or more (grand jury) members present did not recommend that a committee of grand jurors be formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Cynthia Ann Fields by a Savannah police officer."

That case remains pending in Chatham County Superior Court.