Florida Cops ? Black Man Who Pulled Over With Car Trouble — And Then Refuse To Tell Family Why

49ers’ Boldin wants answers in police shooting of cousin

On the afternoon of Oct. 18, 49ers receiver Anquan Boldin was celebrating a victory over his former team, the Baltimore Ravens. A few minutes later, he was struggling to come to grips with the death of his cousin, Corey Jones, who was shot three times by a plainclothes police officer earlier that day as he waited for a tow truck on the side of the highway in their native Florida.

“How do you go from waiting for help on the side of the road to dead?” Boldin asked Tuesday. “For me, that doesn’t add up.”

Boldin is the most recognizable member of a family desperately seeking answers about the shooting, and he says he is willing to use his NFL prominence to ensure justice is served for Jones, 31, who grew up with Boldin, 35, in Palm Beach County.

“His granddad and my granddad are brothers,” Boldin said. “That’s a cousin I’ve known his entire life. ... Every Sunday you find him in church playing the drums. I think if you talk to anybody, you understand that he was just a good kid all around, which only adds more to the frustration of, ‘How does this happen?’ ”

Jones was a well-known musician, worked two jobs, including for the Delray Beach Housing Authority, and had no history of violence. Phone records show he made several calls to report he was having problems with his SUV as he was driving home from a gig early that morning. His cellphone log indicates he was on the line with roadside assistance at the time of the shooting.

Palm Beach Gardens police said Officer Nouman Raja, who was driving an unmarked van, had stopped to investigate what he thought was an abandoned vehicle around 3:15 a.m. when, according to a police statement, he was “suddenly confronted by an armed subject.”

A gun Jones purchased three days earlier was found on the ground nearby, police said. An attorney hired by the family has said the gun was never fired. The FBI is among the groups investigating the shooting.

Boldin said the man he grew up with never would have been aggressive or confrontational.

Among the questions Boldin wants answered: Did Raja identify himself as a police officer? Did he look up the license plate to see who the vehicle belonged to or if it was stolen? And why was Jones’ body found 80 to 100 feet from his vehicle?

Boldin said there’s been a lack of transparency.

“I find it hard to grieve when you don’t know,” he said. “And at this point, that’s all my family’s asking for – the questions that have yet to be answered. That’s the least you can do.”

Boldin, who has played 13 seasons in the NFL, won a Super Bowl with the Ravens and is among the most fiery players on Sundays, said he’s not out “to bash law enforcement.” He said he has relatives who are police officers and that, through his Pahokee, Fla.-based foundation, has developed ties to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department.

“I know what the job entails; I know the dangers that come with it,” Boldin said. “I understand all of it. But I also understand that every person that’s sworn in isn’t worthy of a badge. And for those that aren’t, they shouldn’t be on the force, period. To me, it seems that he was ill-equipped to handle the situation outright. And his mistakes cost us a family member. And we’ve seen that happen too often. And on the back end, there’s no justice for it.”

Boldin said he’s followed the cases involving Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and other recent high-profile deaths of black men and that he has always sympathized with what the families involved have endured.

“But when it hits home, it’s a completely different moment,” he said. “I can’t even explain it to you, the feeling that you have. It’s one thing to see it happen on TV at a distance. But when it hits home, it’s surreal. And the fact that it happens so often, sometimes we get numb to it. ‘Oh, that’s just another incident.’ And I don’t think each individual case gets the attention that it needs – at all.”

Boldin has two sons, and he said he doesn’t want them to fear the police.

“I want my son to grow up respecting law enforcement, not fearing, ‘If I break down, I can’t call the police’ or, ‘If I’m in a sticky situation, I can’t call the police,’ ” he said. “The police are here to protect and serve. That’s what they’re sworn to do; that’s what they’re paid to do.

“But there’s instances where that doesn’t happen. My cousin wasn’t protected. They didn’t serve him. He needed assistance. But instead he got a death sentence.”

Funeral arrangements finalized for Corey Jones; Rev. Al Sharpton to deliver eulogy

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -
The family of Corey Jones have finalized funeral arrangements and have requested the Rev. Al Sharpton and apostle Sharon D. Waler of the Carriers of the Glory International Ministries – Tallahassee to deliver the eulogy.

The wake will be held on Friday, October 30.
There will be family visitation fro 5-6 p.m. and a community reflection from 6-8 p.m.

The funeral will be held at 12 p.m. on Saturday, October 31.

MzKB wrote: »

I'm interested in knowing if any conversation or pertinent information was said or overheard while Cory was on the phone with roadside assistance when the pig showed up.

illedout wrote: »

MzKB wrote: »

I'm interested in knowing if any conversation or pertinent information was said or overheard while Cory was on the phone with roadside assistance when the pig showed up.

Yea I hope AT&T have that whole conversation recorded..

We've seen the evil that these cops do by camera phones and other devices now we may actually get a chance to hear the evil, and I think it's important for the world to hear it as well..

Palm Beach Gardens fires officer who shot, killed Corey Jones

Palm Beach Gardens police fired officer Nouman Raja nearly a month after he shot and killed Corey Jones on a highway off ramp.

Raja, who joined the department in April, was in a one-year probationary period set to end July 2016. His employment was terminated at 5 p.m. Wednesday, city officials say.

Under police union guidelines adopted by the city, officers can be fired during the probationary period without the option of filing a grievance.

Raja has been on paid administrative leave since Oct. 18 shooting, when he shot and killed Jones after pulling up to his disabled SUV in an unmarked van.

City Manager Ron Ferris and Police Chief Stephen Stepp made the decision to terminate Raja, Vice Mayor David Levy said.

Levy was informed Wednesday by Ferris, who said he felt it was in the best interest of the city, Levy said. He didn’t give a reason why.

“I will support his decision, along with the police chief’s,” Levy said.

Police Benevolent Association President John Kazanjian said Stepp and the assistant police chief went to Raja’s house this morning and told him he was being fired. They didn’t give a reason and didn’t have to, Kazanjian said.

“When you’re on probation, they just say, ‘Sorry big guy, you didn’t meet your probation,’” he said.

Stepp’s decision was disappointing, Kazanjian said, because three days after the shooting, Stepp made it sound like he would wait for an investigation to be finished before making a decision on Raja’s employment.

“I’m just so disappointed,” Kazanjian said.

Raja took the news hard, he said.

“Never mind killing someone and having to use deadly force,” Kazanjian said. “Now losing his job, his whole world is coming apart.”

Despite the firing, he said the union lawyers would continue to represent Raja. Although officers who are fired while on probation have little recourse, the union is exploring its options, he said.

The timing of Raja’s termination raised questions Thursday from Jones’ older brother, Clinton “C.J.” Jones Jr.

“They must know something isn’t right, or they had to find out something,” Jones said.

Even if it wasn’t a surprise move, Jones called the officer’s firing “a step in the right direction” in his quest for justice in his brother’s death.

“We just want the truth right now,” Jones said. “However it turns out, we just want to know what happened.”

In a written follow-up statement, Jones’ family said that while they were glad Raja was fired, “we maintain that the officer in question also must be held criminally liable for his reckless actions that night.”

Raja was in plainclothes and an unmarked, department-issued van when he spotted Jones’ disabled SUV on the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 95 at PGA Boulevard. Raja fired six times at Jones, who was armed, hitting him three times.

One of the bullets shattered his left arm. The second struck Jones’ right arm, near the shoulder. A third bullet struck Jones in his right torso, tearing his aorta.

Three independent criminal investigations into the shooting were launched by the State Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Before taking a position in Palm Beach Gardens in April, Raja spent seven years with Atlantis police, a department that patrols just 2,000 homes in the gated town. He started in 2008 as an officer and was promoted to sergeant in 2014.

Raja also worked part time at Palm Beach State College teaching law enforcement courses. He also was placed on administrative leave by the college pending completion of the criminal investigations.

stringer bell wrote: »

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/corey-jones-shooting-city-wants-answers-denies-bia/npHL5/

Corey Jones shooting: City wants answers, denies bias

City officials Thursday night expressed grief and a need for answers about the fatal shooting of Corey Jones but denied any racial bias within the police department.

It was the City Council’s first meeting since Jones, 31, was shot by a police officer Oct. 18. Mayor Eric Jablin said he’s enjoyed every day of the last 24 years in office until the one when he got word of the shooting from the city manager while on a trip to California.

Jablin acknowledged those, like him, who are white can’t know what it’s like to live as an African-American man. But, he also said, the tragedy could wrongly be characterized as racial because of the climate in America today — and that people tend to speculate when there’s a vacuum of information.

“All of us have serious questions we want answered,” Jablin said.

Many of those answers, however, won’t come from city agencies, officials stressed to a crowd of about 30 people at City Hall, many of whom called for further discipline of Officer Nouman Raja. Friends of Jones and local clergy dressed in black urged city officials to act swiftly to bring about justice, starting with removing Raja from paid leave. They were well-mannered yet firm as they pressed for justice and answers in the course of a little less than an hour. Many wore suits.

Derrick McCray said the tragedy can be a great opportunity for officials to show what justice looks like. That starts with consequences for Raja, he said.

“He doesn’t deserve to be paid, plain and simple,” said McCray, who runs a barbecue restaurant on Military Trail.

Paid leave is standard in these situations, and it was not immediately clear Thursday whether the city police union contract covered the issue.

Raja, wearing plain clothes and driving an unmarked van, shot and killed Jones on the exit ramp of Interstate 95 southbound at PGA Boulevard, police have said. Raja was doing surveillance in the area and approached Jones’ vehicle at about 3:15 a.m. Oct. 18, thinking it was abandoned. A confrontation ensued and Raja fired six shots, three of which struck Jones, a drummer with the Future Prezidents reggae band who was waiting for a tow truck after his Hyundai sport utility vehicle broke down on the way home from a gig in Jupiter.

Jones had a legally purchased gun. It was found at the scene and had not been fired, State Attorney Dave Aronberg has said.

Within an hour of the shooting, city police turned the crime scene over to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the fatality, City Manager Ron Ferris said. At that point, the city’s involvement with the criminal probe ceased, and it was given no further information.

The outside investigations need to be completed before the city can conduct its own internal affairs review, Ferris said. The city has already started to review all its policies and procedures and is surveying other police departments around the state on issues such as body cameras for its officers.

The city began considering police body cameras a few years ago, he said. It’s not as simple as putting a camera on an officer and being able to record, Ferris said. Officials are looking for guidance from the state legislature about how to use the cameras without violating peoples’ constitutional rights, he said.

Councilman Joe Russo said if the tragedy could happen in Palm Beach Gardens, it could happen anywhere. He wants the city to be a model for ensuring such an event doesn’t happen again in the county or state.

“At the end of the day, if we haven’t learned from this, that’s a bigger tragedy than occurred that day,” said Russo, who has made similar pleas at a memorial for Jones last month.

The white man has declared there nothing racial about this killing.. So it must be true.. Us blacks folks must imagining things...

http://youtu.be/FZDDSK_yBMU

Corey Jones shooting case to go before grand jury

The investigation into former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja’s role in the shooting death of Corey Jones will go before a grand jury, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg announced Wednesday.

The decision marks the end of a months-long, multi-agency investigation into the incident that left the 31-year-old drummer dead in the early hours of Oct. 18.

“Our only goal is to do justice, and I think we are as transparent as we can be under the rules,” Aronberg said. “I’d ask people not to jump to conclusions until it’s done.”

Prosecutors could have charged Raja, 38, with crimes ranging from murder to culpable negligence in the case where the plainclothes officer drove up on Jones in an unmarked van as the stranded motorist waited for a tow truck on the southbound off ramp of Interstate 95 at PGA Boulevard.

Instead, they have followed the path of other prosecutors in high-profile police shootings across the country by referring the case to a grand jury — a move that Jones’ family and community leaders have strongly discouraged.

Aronberg said Chief Assistant State Attorney Brian Fernandes informed Jones’ family attorneys of their decision shortly before prosecutors met with reporters.

“They didn’t express any negative reaction to me at that time,” Fernandes said.

In a written statement, attorneys for Jones’ family said they were pleased that the case was going to the grand jury but were taking this day to focus on the beloved drummer’s memory.

“Our goal now as a family is to ensure that this never happens to another innocent citizen,” the family said in a written statement released by the office of their lead attorney, Benjamin Crump. “In spite of this news, our hearts are heavy. We lost a wonderful soul.”

According to Aronberg, the current grand jury session will end June 30, so a decision will be made by then. During Aronberg’s tenure, two other officer involved shooting cases have been referred to the grand jury, and in both of those shootings, the panels have found the shootings to be justified.

Fernandes said he also spoke to Raja’s attorney, Richard Lubin, and informed him of the decision, but would not say whether Raja would be testifying before the grand jury.

The grand jury is made up of 21 members and meets before Chief Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath.

While Aronberg’s office and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office appeared to have concluded their parts of the investigation months ago, prosecutors have said they were waiting on the FBI to complete forensics testing and expert interviews in the case that sparked more than 100 witness interviews in three countries.

The Palm Beach Post last week revealed the existence of an audio recording of Jones’ call to AT&T Roadside assistance. According to a source close to the case, Raja’s version of events surrounding the shooting did not exactly match evidence from the recordings, which opened up an additional avenue for investigators to explore.

Palm Beach Gardens police officials said Raja after the shooting told them that he fired on Jones because Jones had come at him with a gun. The registered handgun that Jones had purchased just days earlier was found at some point between his car and the place his body was found. Investigators quickly determined Jones never fired the gun, and his family attorney had long held that Jones died not knowing the man who shot him was a police officer.

At the time, Raja — who had previously spent eight years as an Atlantis police officer but was still on probation less than seven months into his job with Gardens — was working on a plainclothes detail in response to burglaries in the area. Those facts particularly outraged community leaders rallying on Jones’ behalf, who met with Gardens city leaders to ask why such a new employee was given such responsibilities.

Jones’ relatives, meanwhile, have championed a new Florida law requiring law enforcement agencies to set policies for body cameras on officers. And others in the community have called for more stringent rules on how law enforcement officers approach citizens while in plainclothes.

As for Raja, Palm Beach Gardens officials fired him less than a month after the shooting, explaining at the time that his probationary status gave them the right to terminate him without cause.

Raja has retained the services of Lubin, who has said very little publicly about the case other than to ensure that Raja was still willing to come to court and testify in all cases he was involved in before the shooting. But most of those open cases have either been dropped, or the defendants have received generous plea offers.

The grand jury process has been widely criticized as a way for prosecutors to escape accountability on officer-involved shootings - especially after a St. Louis County grand jury cleared the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown.

The state of California last year curtailed their use of grand juries in officer-involved shootings, and prosecutors in Georgia recently made a similar move.