Legal Commentary

Why Hasn't Jeffrey Weaber Been Fired?

By TChris

The Huntsville Times wonders "how the Huntsville Police Department investigates itself and whether its review policy is so lacking in balance and so opaque as to undermine public confidence in it."

When an officer shoots a citizen, and the federal courts say there's strong evidence that department policies weren't followed, yet that department doesn't condemn the officer's involvement, the public must be troubled.

Ricky Scheuerman ran over Officer Jeffrey Weaber's foot. He says it was an accident. Weaber shot Sheuerman three times in the chest. That was not an accident.

An internal investigation by the HPD exonerated Weaber despite a less than stellar work record that includes "a dozen or so wrecks in his police car." A federal judge has nonetheless concluded that the evidence of misconduct is strong enough to warrant a trial in Scheuerman's lawsuit against Weaber. [more ...]

[The judge found] that Weaber violated a number of HPD policies when he stopped Scheuerman and later shot him.

Weaber was driving an unmarked car, and department policy discourage officers from making stops using such vehicles.

Weaber didn't use a blue light or siren in stopping Scheuerman.

Weaber didn't identify himself as a police officer.

He did, however, shoot Scheuerman three times in the chest, resulting a long hospital stay and huge medical bills.

As the linked editorial notes, in the absence of a civilian review board, the HPD should be prepared to explain to the public why it found no fault in Weaber's decision to fire three shots into Scheuerman's chest. Perhaps there will be more public pressure for an explanation after a jury gives Scheuerman the multi-million dollar verdict he deserves.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 16, 2008 (boomark / email).