Article published August 06, 2008
Mother of victim sues over deadly Lima raid
Darla Jennings, with attorney Derek Sells, filed a federal lawsuit
over the Jan. 4 police raid that left her daughter dead.
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THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER
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By CHAUNCEY ALCORN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
LIMA, Ohio — The outraged mother of a woman fatally shot seven months ago by Lima Police Sgt. Joseph Chavalia demanded justice and reform yesterday from the police department after filing a federal lawsuit against the city and the man who killed her daughter.
The lawsuit accuses Sergeant Chavalia of acting “negligently” in the Jan. 4 shooting during a drug raid.
Darla Jennings, mother of Tarika Wilson, the 26-year-old victim, said Lima residents should fear their police as a result of Monday’s jury acquittal of Sergeant Chavalia.
The jury of four white men and four white women found the police officer not guilty of negligent homicide and negligent assault for shooting Wilson and her 13-month-old son, Sincere. One of the child’s fingers had to be amputated as a result of injuries he received during the raid.
Ivory Austin and Sherita Thomas shout outside the Allen County Courthouse after a jury acquitted a police officer in the January drug-raid shooting that killed their sister, Tarika Wilson.
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LIMA NEWS
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Lima SWAT team officers were attempting to arrest Anthony Terry that day, a companion of Wilson wanted on drug charges.
When Terry unleashed two pit bulls on officers involved in the raid on the first-floor kitchen of Wilson’s home, members of the SWAT team shot at the dogs.
Sergeant Chavalia testified during his trial that he saw a shadowy figure — who turned out to be Wilson — moving back and forth in an upstairs bedroom where he and other officers were searching. He said when he heard the gunshots, he thought they were coming from the bedroom.
He testified he felt his life and the lives of his fellow officers were in danger, which is why he fired his fully automatic rifle.
“That night it was my daughter,” Ms. Jennings said yesterday at a press conference. “Next time it could be somebody else’s.”
One of Ms. Jenning’s attorneys, Derek Sells of New York City, said in his lawsuit that Lima police officers executed their search warrant with full knowledge that the dogs, minor children, and Wilson were present in the home.
Mr. Sells said Wilson, Sincere, and the rest of her family posed no risk to any officers’ safety.
The attorney called the shooting “excessive, unreasonable, and completely uneccessary.”
“They [Lima police] claim they followed Terry for a period of time, so why would they go in the house at this time, this occasion,” Mr. Sells said at the press conference.
Members of Wilson’s family, including her sisters Tenea and Tonya, wept and shook their head in agreement with his words.
“This investigation by [the Lima police officer’s] own words took months,” Mr. Sells continued. “They knew children could be in the home. What was the rush? Why did they need to go in there that night?”
Lima Police Chief J. Gregory Garlock told The Blade yesterday his officers took precautions before storming into Wilson’s home the night of the raid. He said during a traffic stop prior to the raid, Wilson told officers she lived at her mother’s home on South Glenn in Lima.
“We don’t know if she’s a girlfriend or somebody he’s loaned the car to. Our main focus was to find out if the car belonged to him,” the chief said. “They [the SWAT team] set off distraction devices outside before the raid. The entire time we watched the house, there was no movement inside and the house was dark.”
Although the criminal case against Sergeant Chavalia is over, Chief Garlock said the officer may still face disciplinary action, including possible termination, from the Lima Police Department pending an internal affairs investigation which has yet to begin. The investigation is being handled by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
An FBI investigation is pending into whether the sergeant violated Wilson’s civil rights.
Chief Garlock said Lima police can’t determine whether Sergeant Chavalia made any mistakes that night until after the internal affairs investigation.
“That will be the outcome of the internal investigation,” he said. “What they would be doing would be evaluating our policies, evaluating the actions of the officers involved.
The idea is to see whether or not — in terms of the use of force policy — there were any violations that occurred.”
Mr. Sells said he didn’t understand how a jury could acquit an officer who shot a woman holding a baby in her arms.
He called on the U.S. Department of Justice to bring federal criminal charges against the sergeant, which he said has been done in police-brutality cases.
Both Mr. Sells and Lima Mayor David Berger said, despite the criminal acquittal, the case is far from over.
“The Jan. 4 situation was a legitimate law enforcement operation with a terrible outcome,” Mayor Berger said. “Yesterday was the first of a series of processes that will be reviewing all circumstances. … There’s lots of situation still to be determined.”
Contact Chauncey Alcorn at: calcorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6168.
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