Talladega grand jury finds fatal Police shooting of Black Man Justified
/A Talladega County grand jury has
determined that the shooting death of a robbery suspect by a police
officer at a convenience store was justified, according to District
Attorney Steve Giddens. The fatal shooting of Prince Rogers Patterson,
22, occurred after he entered Benny's Stop and Go on Jan. 23 and
apparently attempted to rob it, with his actions caught on the store's
surveillance camera. "At some point, he comes around the counter. One
of the female clerks stepped on a silent alarm button in the floor and
then ran to a secure area in the back of the store," Giddens said
Monday. "The remaining clerk was taken by Patterson out of the range of
the camera." When police arrived, one of the officers sprayed Patterson
with pepper spray, but he lunged for a second officer who shot him
twice, authorities said. Giddens said Patterson got up, walked out of
the store and ran up the street before paramedics found him dead about
90 feet away. [more] and [more]
