Investigation launched for Raleigh officer-involved shooting

A black man was shot four times by a white Raleigh police officer Feb. 29, according to a preliminary autopsy, bringing the Triangle into an ongoing national conversation about race and law enforcement.

“We stand here, both present and past elected leaders of the community, to ask for calm, prayer and patience. Any loss of life, regardless of circumstance, is heartbreaking and we offer our sincere condolences to all of those involved,” said Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane in her official statement.

D.C. Twiddy, a senior officer in the Raleigh Police Department, pursued Akiel Denkins in an effort to take Denkins into custody for drug charges. Twiddy and Denkins struggled until Twiddy fired multiple shots at Denkins, eventually shooting him out of fear, according to a report to the city manager outlining initial findings of the case.

But community members doubt the accuracy of the initial report, said Irving Joyner, an attorney for the North Carolina NAACP, in a community meeting at Bible Way Temple. Witnesses have claimed the scene was blocked off and cleaned up before the public was able to view the shooting site, he said.

“We don’t get the information about what exactly the site looked like before it was sanitized,” Joyner said. “That’s a part of the concern that people have and a part of the anger that people have that they were blocked out while there was a cleaning up of the blood. There was a shuffling of leaves and other terrain around the shooting scene.”

The Rev. William Barber, N.C. NAACP president, asked for truth and transparency in the investigation.

“Truth is the main antidote to unrest ... Truth. Not predetermined truth. Not truth that is marred by the statements about (Denkins’) life that may have nothing to do with what actually happened on that day. Unbiased, transparent truthful investigation with the fact,” Barber said in a news conference.

Uncovering the truth takes time, said Lorrin Freeman, Wake County district attorney.

“We are very lucky that the state crime lab is trying to expedite the analysis of that evidence, but this isn’t 'CSI' — it takes time to analyze all of that,” she said.

Freeman asked witnesses to report information to the State Bureau of Investigation, especially video evidence.

UNC political science professor Frank Baumgartner said video evidence is the difference between past and present police shootings.

“The officer in North Charleston that shot the individual, it seemed like a very similar situation, but it was captured on tape,” Baumgartner said. “If that hadn’t had been captured on tape, I don’t think many people in the mainstream community — not in the white community — would have believed that it had been true.”

And he said the situation is not confined to the Triangle. Unlike before the Trayvon Martin case, people recognize shootings like this happen and are more likely to believe allegations and give these cases attention.

“What we’re seeing now is every police chief’s worst nightmare — that it could happen anywhere,” Baumgartner said. “Raleigh’s not the best. Raleigh’s not the worst. Raleigh’s in the middle of the pack as far as I know ... Those things are happening, the difference is now we’re finding out about them.”

Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown, an African American, could generate good community relations during the shooting investigation — but it’s not a guarantee, Baumgartner said.

“The initial words that came from the police chief are very similar to the words you hear every time: we will get to the bottom of this, I promise a full and complete investigation,” Baumgartner said.

“What she didn’t say and what is never said: check in six months from now or 18 months from now when the internal investigation will be complete and presumably things will have calmed down — and that’s something people are very, very frustrated with.”

state@dailytarheel.com