PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WVEC) — A grand jury indicted Portsmouth police officer Jeremy D. Durocher on 2 felony charges for the shooting of Deontrace Lamont Ward that took place on October 29, 2017.
Virginia State Police, as well as the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office's investigator, looked into the incident. Based on the results of those, prosecutors went before the grand jury on Thursday. The grand jury returned indictments for Aggravated Malicious Wounding and Use of a Firearm.
The Virginian-Pilot obtained video showing Durocher, a rookie officer, shooting Ward in the back as Ward ran away from him. Police described Ward as an armed burglary suspect.
The Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney's Office presented case to the grand jury on Nov. 1.
James Boyd, President of the Portsmouth NAACP, released this statement:
We are pleased that the Wheels of Justice are turning for Deontrace Ward, his family and our community. We hope that the process moves quickly as his family and our community have waited long enough. The police body cam footage clearly shows that there was no merit to the officer shooting Deontrace in his back or utilizing that degree of force in the first place. No threat was imminent to the officer or others and this type of reckless judgment must be held accountable. We place trust in our law enforcement officials to handle the use of force with sound reason and judgement and it's clear that this was not the case with their encounter with Deontrace and those responsible should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the Law.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales provided a statement regarding the indictment.
Portsmouth Police Chief Tonya D. Chapman had the following statement about the indictment:
Although this decision directly impacts the members of the Portsmouth Police Department, we will allow the criminal justice system to run its course. In the meantime, I can assure you that the members of our department will continue to faithfully serve our community, remain steadfast in building trust, and continue our double digit major crimes reduction beyond the 12% we've already achieved this year.
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