The Madison police chief apologized tonight for his now-canceled plan to award officers who were involved in the shooting death of Dana Fletcher, a Black man killed outside a gym last year.
Fletcher’s mother rejected the chief’s words, saying she believed the nixed award ceremony was intended to hurt the slain man’s family.
“After personal reflection, I understand the timing of this ceremony has caused pain to our community,” Chief Dave Jernigan said at tonight’s City Council meeting. “I sincerely apologize for this pain.”
Jernigan was apologizing for his plans to award the Medal of Honor — the Madison Police Department’s highest honor — to officers who were involved in the Oct. 27, 2019 shooting death of Fletcher.
In a departmental email sent earlier this month, the chief said the medals would be presented to the officers, whose names haven’t been released to the public, in a private ceremony at City Hall on July 28.
The chief and Mayor Paul Finley say they decided to halt the ceremony after AL.com obtained a screenshot of the chief’s email and asked about the event. AL.com published an article on July 19 about the plans for the ceremony, and the chief later that night announced the ceremony had been put on hold because the timing was “not optimal” amid nationwide protests against racism and police violence.
At tonight’s council meeting, Jernigan said he has decided to cancel the ceremony altogether.
“Our goal has always been to build trust with our community through community policing,” Jernigan said. “The insensitivity of this ceremony divides us, and for that I’m truly sorry. I continue to be very proud of our Madison Police Department, but I must be far more sensitive and aware of the different opinions that make up our community.
“As police chief I’ll strive to do better, to see and listen more thoroughly and intently in the future,” he said.
During the public comments portion of the City Council meeting — which at times became heated and emotional — nine people spoke in support of Fletcher’s family. The speakers questioned city leaders about the ceremony, called for more accountability for police officers and demanded that body camera footage be released or at least shown to Fletcher’s family.
The city has denied public records requests from AL.com seeking the video footage and has declined to show the footage to Fletcher’s family.
In her comments, Fletcher’s mother, Deborah, asked the City Council and mayor for their opinions on the ceremony. Neither the councilors nor the mayor responded.
Deborah Fletcher also took issue with some of the language the police chief used in his statement. The chief referred to her son’s shooting death as an “adversarial event with an armed subject.”
“That subject has a name,” she said aloud as the chief spoke. “His name is Dana Fletcher.”
Fletcher said she believes the city planned to hand out the medals in an effort to hurt her family. She also said she believes information about the ceremony was intentionally leaked to AL.com for that purpose.
But, she said, the news has only invigorated the family’s fight for justice and an end to police violence.
As evidence of what she called a pattern of police brutality in Madison, Fletcher pointed to her son’s case and the case of Sureshbai Patel, an Indian grandfather who was partially paralyzed after being slammed to the ground by a local police officer in 2015.
“My son is dead because of police brutality,” she said.
After Fletcher was killed, five officers — including two who fired their guns — were put on leave for the authorities to investigate. All of the officers were cleared to return to work after an internal investigation and a probe by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office.
Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said the officers were
“entirely justified” after reviewing body camera footage, which appeared to show Fletcher holding a gun when he was pulled from his van by police. The district attorney’s office said Fletcher pointed the gun toward officers. Broussard made a presentation about the case to news reporters, but the authorities have declined to release the full footage showing what happened.
www.al.com