Florida Officer Fired for Excessive Force

Posted: Saturday, July 11, 2009
Story by news4jax.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --

Sonji Hall-Brooks said she is relieved that Sheriff John Rutherford fired Officer R.T. Fraser after he shot her son, 20-year-old Jerrick Hall, in the shoulder.

"You can't really understand the logic of what we've been going through," Hall-Brooks said. "For me to see my son in the state that he's in for something senseless is crazy, and I was really happy, really happy about that."

The incident occurred in October when police responded to a burglary-in-progress call at a vacant home.

In April, Fraser told the police review board that Hall jumped out of a window and ran. The officer felt Hall had a weapon as Hall ran in the direction of another police officer.

"I felt that she was in some type of imminent danger," Fraser said. "Because I felt at the time he had some type of firearm or weapon in his waistband, there was no other resource at the time to prevent her from danger."

But in a memo from Rutherford, the sheriff found that the suspect was not seen with a weapon and had not threatened anyone, and deadly force was not appropriate.

Rutherford said officer Fraser broke policy and used excessive force, and he will be terminated.

"You just felt you were doing your job, but this time that you were doing your job, you did it in a wrong way," Hall-Brooks said.

Hall isn't ready to speak about what happened, but he has the bullet in his shoulder as an everlasting reminder.

"It's heartbreaking," Hall-Brooks said. "He could have lost his life. He still has a bullet in his chest. Every day he gets up and takes a bath, he's reminded of what this person did to him."