Robert Bennett, who is representing the family of the Australian shot dead by police, says Damond ‘obviously wasn’t armed’ and ‘was not a threat to anyone’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A US lawyer representing the family of Justine Damond, the Australian who was shot dead by police in Minneapolis, has hit back at claims the officer who fired the shots may have thought he was being ambushed.

Robert Bennett, who has represented police shooting victims including Philando Castile, told US network CBS that Damond was in her pyjamas at the time and clearly did not present a threat.

“She obviously wasn’t armed, was not a threat to anyone, and nor could she have reasonably perceived to be,” he said.

Justine Damond: police lawyer claims officers may have feared an ambush Read more

He criticised the comment – made by the attorney for the police officer Matthew Harrity whose partner, Mohamed Noor, shot Damond – that it was reasonable for the officers to have believed that they might be targets of an ambush.

“I think that’s ludicrous,” Bennett said. “It’s disinformation ... it doesn’t have any basis in fact.”



Harrity told investigators he heard a loud sound before officer Noor shot Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk.

According to the Minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension (BCA), Harrity told investigators he and Noor were in a squad car on Saturday when the sound startled Harrity. Damond appeared at the driver’s side door and Noor shot her from the passenger seat.

Harrity’s attorney, Fred Bruno, told the Star Tribune “it’s certainly reasonable” to assume any officer would be concerned about an ambush. He referenced the recent death of a New York City officer killed in her squad car.

“It was only a few weeks ago when a female NYPD cop and mother of twins was executed in her car in a very similar scenario,” Bruno said.



NYPD officer Miosotis Familia was shot in the head on 5 July while sitting in her car in the Bronx.

On Thursday Damond’s Australian family said they plan to bring their daughter back to Australia for a hometown farewell.



“All we want to do is bring Justine home to Australia to farewell her in her hometown among family and friends,” a statement on behalf of the Ruszczyk family said.

“We are still trying to come to terms with this tragedy and we are struggling to understand how and why this could happen. These are very early days and the family, in Australia and in the USA are devastated by our loss.



“We want to see the investigation come to a conclusion, as soon as possible, so we have some resolution to the tragedy.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A makeshift memorial to Justine Damond in Minneapolis. Photograph: Stephen Maturen/AFP/Getty Images

The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has spoken out again about Damond’s shooting, saying the entire incident was “completely inexplicable”.



“I spoke to Justine’s dad yesterday about it and gave him our love and sympathy,” he told Melbourne radio station 3AW radio on Thursday.

“What a terrible tragedy ... the whole incident is completely inexplicable,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense how she could be seen as a threat.”

Turnbull said he expected that a full inquiry would take place and that Australian authorities were expecting answers.

Justine Damond's death is a tragedy – as every police killing in America is | Steven W Thrasher Read more

However, four days after the fatally shooting, Noor has yet to talk with investigators and his lawyer has given no indication he ever will.



Some legal experts say the move is wise and well within the officer’s rights. But without Noor’s version of events, there’s virtually no explanation for what happened on Saturday when he fired a shot from the passenger seat of a squad car, past his partner in the driver’s seat and killed Damond, who was standing outside the vehicle.

Transcripts of 911 calls that were made public Wednesday show Damond called dispatchers twice to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.

Damond made her first call at 11.27pm, when she said she heard a possible sexual assault. She told the dispatcher she wasn’t sure but thought a woman was in distress. She called back eight minutes later when no officers had arrived and told the dispatcher she was worried they had gone to the wrong address.

The assistant police chief Medaria Arradondo told reporters that officers searched the area and found no suspects.

New questions have been raised over whether proper police procedures were followed. According to the BCA, Harrity told investigators he was driving in the alley with all of the vehicle’s lights off when he was startled by a loud noise, which authorities did not describe. Harrity said Damond appeared at the driver’s side window “immediately afterward” and Noor fired, striking her in the abdomen. She died at the scene.

Television station KSTP, citing a source it did not name, said the two officers thought they were being targeted for an ambush when they heard a pounding noise on the driver’s side. Noor had his gun on his lap, the station reported.

The BCA did not confirm the report.

Arradondo said that an internal use-of-force investigation has been opened, which is standard any time an officer discharges a weapon. The police chief has asked that the review be expedited, but much of the information needed is in the hands of state investigators.

The police department’s internal affairs unit can compel Noor to give a statement as part of its own investigation, and fire him if he refuses, but that statement cannot be used against him in any criminal investigation, Joe Friedberg, a Minneapolis defence attorney, said.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez in the nearby suburb of St Anthony sat down with state agents last summer the day after he shot Philando Castile. Prosecutors used his statement as evidence against him during his manslaughter trial, but the defence used it too. Jurors apparently accepted Yanez’s claims that he saw Castile’s gun and believed his life was in danger. Yanez was acquitted.

Marsh Halberg, another defence attorney not involved in the case, said he always tells his clients not to talk.

Justine Damond death: US investigators say 'loud sound' may have sparked police shooting Read more

“I have six words of advice: shut up, shut up, shut up. That’s what I tell them. Because you can always tell your story later,” Halberg said.

Harrity has been with the police department for one year, Noor for roughly two years. When asked about pairing the two newer officers together, Arradondo told reporters Tuesday that both men were “fully trained”.





