Esteban Parra, Adam Duvernay, and Jessica Masulli Reyes

The News Journal

Four police officers will not be charged in the shooting death of 28-year-old Jeremy McDole.

Some black community leaders and residents were outraged by the outcome.

As the investigation unfolded last year, many black leaders called for calm.

Four Wilmington police officers will not be charged in the shooting death of 28-year-old Jeremy "Bam" McDole, who was killed last September while sitting in his wheelchair on the city's west side.

Some black community leaders and residents were outraged by the outcome of the eight-month investigation led by the Delaware Department of Justice, which took the unusual step of singling out Senior Cpl. Joseph Dellose for "extraordinarily poor police work" during the incident. Dellose fired at McDole with a shotgun approximately two seconds after initially ordering him to put his hands up, the report found, creating uncertainty among other officers who, not knowing where the gunfire came from, also turned their weapons on McDole.

The report from Attorney General Matt Denn's office said Dellose should not be employed by the city police in any role where he would carry a firearm in public. It also said the city's use of force policy was vague and needed updating, and that officers get little guidance on de-escalating similar situations –– especially among people who are physically or mentally disabled.

As the investigation unfolded last year, many black leaders called for calm, asking residents to give authorities time to complete the probe. But that changed Thursday.

​"Now that it (the investigation) is complete, and we have come to this conclusion, I don't know that I can tell our communities to remain calm," said the Rev. Donald Morton, executive director of the Complexities of Color Coalition. "There is only so much a community of people can take."

Mahkeib Booker, who launched the Delaware chapter of Black Lives Matter last year, said the absence of charges tells the African-American community here that their lives don't matter.

People called him "a sell-out negro" last year when he asked them to be patient as the investigation unfurled. "What do I tell them now?" Booker asked.

"For no charges to be brought is insane," Booker added.

The report – with a rare glimpse into the prosecutorial decision-making process – said prosecutors initially considered filing a felony assault charge against Dellose, who was captured on a cell phone video targeting McDole with a shotgun.

REPORT: Read the attorney general's report

TIMELINE: Events in the case of the shooting of Jeremy McDole

Prosecutors consulted with two national police-use-of-force experts to determine that Dellose's conduct was not criminal because of a Delaware law that immunizes officers if they believe force is necessary to protect themselves.

Dellose and the other officers answered a 911 call in which a resident told dispatchers that a man in a wheelchair had shot himself, and that he had a gun in his hand. Investigators later interviewed the woman who called 911, who said she never saw a gun.

The report released a transcript of the 911 call, in which the dispatcher is heard saying: "They're going to take him out." The person who called 911 responded: "Oh my Jesus, don't kill him!"

Cell phone video showed McDole rubbing his knees as Dellose and three other officers – identified in the report as Senior Cpl. Danny Silva, Cpl. Thomas Lynch and Cpl. James MacColl – moved in at the Tulip Street location about 3 p.m. on Sept. 23. Officers were screaming at McDole to drop his weapon.

"I could see his hands fidgeting, you know by his waist," Dellose told an investigator examining the case.

"He wasn't responding to my commands," Dellose said in the report. "I could tell he looked at me, and at that point I could see his right hand and I could see the handle of a weapon of a gun."

The 11-year-veteran of the Wilmington police department told the investigator: "I couldn't see his hands, he kept moving around his waist. At that point, I felt I was in danger, my life was in danger if he picked up that gun and started shooting. He could shoot the other officers, he could shoot me, and bystanders."

That's when he decided "I had to fire one round," Dellose said.

The report said McDole died from multiple gunshots, but it does not explain from which guns the lethal rounds were fired or how many struck him. According to the report, McDole had a stolen .38 caliber revolver in his boxer shorts.

DOJ spokesman Carl Kanefsky said none of the bullets from McDole's gun were found in his body.

McDole's family claimed that the 911 caller fabricated the story about McDole shooting himself to cover up a robbery she and another man had committed. DOJ investigators found no evidence that was true, the report said.

The family also contended that police had planted the .38 caliber on McDole, noting that no weapon fell onto the pavement when he fell out of the wheelchair after being shot. A motion in a federal civil suit filed by the family against Wilmington Police showed McDole had gunshot residue on his hand.

TAKE OUR POLL: Do you agree with the attorney general's report?

STORY: NAACP wants transparency in Jeremy McDole shooting investigation

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DOJ investigators pursued leads that a resident had video of the revolver being planted on McDole sprawled on the pavement. However, when that person was questioned about the video, "he denied having any such video or having witnessed such an incident."

The shooting came after dozens of other high-profile cases of police officers killing minorities, including the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray in the back of a Baltimore police van.

Video of McDole's shooting sparked nationwide anger at the time and led to a handful of local flareups and protests led by his family, who issued a statement Thursday through their lawyers.

"Our family disagrees with the conclusions of the report not to charge any officer with a crime which seems to reflect the historic fact that we believe that no police officer in Delaware has ever been charged with a crime for the fatal use of force on a civilian," the statement reads. "Blacks also suffer three times the death rate of whites at the hands of police nationwide. But this is not reflected in the report.

"Jeremy was paralyzed and he could not run or hide. ... Due either to their poor training or their lack of qualifications to be police officers licensed to use deadly force to kill, the shots fired that day were unnecessary. The tactical response reflected deliberate indifference to the life of Jeremy."

The McDoles' statement added that the Department of Justice's action would have no effect on their federal civil case they filed contending Jeremy McDole was wrongfully killed. Criminal cases require that guilt of a crime must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but in civil cases the standard is lower. A plaintiff needs to show that the preponderance of evidence proves their version of events is true.

To make their point, the two-page statement brought up another Wilmington case in which a family was awarded a settlement despite the officer being cleared of criminal wrongdoing. This was the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Derek Hale, a former Marine and associate of the Pagans Motorcycle Club, who was killed by a Wilmington police officer in November 2006.

Then-Lt. William Browne was cleared of any wrongdoing in 2007 by the state Department of Justice. But, in federal court, Wilmington settled with the family for $875,000. Hale's family was represented by Wilmington attorney Thomas S. Neuberger, who is one of the lawyers representing McDole's family.

Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams and police Chief Bobby Cummings would not speak Thursday about the report, but a spokeswoman for the city said in a statement that the city agreed with the decision not to prosecute the officers, but disagreed with the report's criticisms of the city's officers, policies and training.

“Mr. McDole was under the influence of drugs and had been indiscriminately firing a handgun in a busy commercial and residential area," the statement said. "Prompt police intervention was necessary to ensure public safety. As the video shows, Mr. McDole did not comply with repeated, lawful commands to raise his hands and made an abrupt and threatening move toward Officer Dellose. Mr. McDole then appeared to be drawing his handgun when the remaining officers fired. The City disagrees, however, with DOJ’s criticisms of the City’s officers, policies and training. The City’s positions in this regard will be detailed in its defense of the claims asserted in the pending civil case."

The city also took issue with DOJ's criticisms of departmental training and policies.

"During the course of the DOJ’s investigation, the City offered to provide the DOJ with access to a WPD training officer to explain WPD’s program of training and instruction. DOJ declined the City’s offer. In addition, during the DOJ investigation, the City was not given notice of the issues identified by the DOJ, nor an opportunity to address them, before the report was issued."

The DOJ found that Wilmington police had only a single training flier that related to interactions with persons who were acting in an outwardly aggressive fashion. The police department indicated that it sends officers to a statewide crisis intervention training offered to all police agencies, but the report found no indication that the four officers involved in the McDole shooting attended.

Wilmington police said it sends eight officers to the training two times per year. “It appears that the program has been in place since 2014," the report said. "Even at a rate of 16 officers per year, it would take 20 years for the Department’s authorized officers to receive this training."

New Castle County Councilman Jae Street wasn’t surprised by the results of the DOJ report and said he would follow through on his promise to involve the federal government.

The report’s findings were consistent with his expectations, but Street said he agreed Dellose should not be working in a position that necessitates him carrying a firearm.

“I doubt the city will have the courage to do that,” Street said.

The report also compared the McDole shooting with a 2010 incident in which Dellose was also investigated that involved multiple officers shooting a suspect who was trying to evade police.

“One of the officers interviewed described Senior Cpl. Dellose’s conduct (in the 2010 case) as similar in some ways to his conduct in the incident involving Mr. McDole – arriving separately from other officers on the scene, and advancing into an incident where gunfire had already been reported as another officer shouted at him to turn back because he was in the line of fire.”

The city gave no statement Thursday about Dellose's future in the department.

Fraternal Order of Police President Harold Bozeman did not return calls seeking comment.

A neighbor of McDole's mother, who would only allow herself to be identified as Cheryl, was outraged Thursday upon hearing no charges would be lodged against the officer.

"It is not like he could run anywhere and to be shot that many times is just ridiculous," she said. "That is Delaware for you. It is just how the state is. It is not the first time a cop got away with shooting someone that didn't do anything. It probably won't be the last."

McDole's family said that before deadly force was used, McDole could have been talked down by "a properly trained professional using historic police methods." They could have also used lesser forms of force such as a stun gun, pepper spray, tear gas, a rubber buckshot or a bean bag shotgun.

Xerxes Wilson, of The News Journal, contributed to this story..

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3. Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at (302) 324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @JessicaMasulli. Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 324-2785 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com

Editor’s Note: This story has been changed to correct Wilmington Senior Cpl. Danny Silva’s name.

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