The dash cam video of the police involved shooting of Zachary Hammond has been released and it reveals much about the state of our justice system. In July of this year,19 year-old Zachary Hammond’s date identified as Tori Morton, had allegedly sold several grams of marijuana to an undercover cop during a narcotics investigation. This innocuous transgression resulted in the death of Hammond at the hands of another over zealous cop, this time a Lieutenant identified as Lt. Mark Tiller of the Seneca Police Department.
In a brief statement released this week, Tenth Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams said, “I have completed my review of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s (SLED) investigation into the shooting death of Zachary Hammond on July 26, 2015 in Seneca, South Carolina. After careful consideration of the facts of the case, a thorough review of the State investigation, and an extensive review of all applicable law, I have determined that no criminal charges should be filed against Lt. Mark Tiller at the State level. I met with the Hammond family today and have informed them of this decision.”
This time, the response from the justice system is shocking. We all know that the justice system protects its own, but in a case like this, we have recently seen the justice system do the right thing in an identical case. Perhaps you remember the fatal shooting of motorist Samual Dubose by campus cop Ray Tensing? The circumstances in the Hammond case are identical in every way. Do not be fooled by the media smoke and mirrors, linking the shooting to a drug deal. The initial circumstances become irrelevant. As with every police use of force, you can determine if the level of force used meets the resistance demonstrated lawfully by applying the circumstances to the police Use of Force Matrix. Once again, AnonHQ appears to be the only news outlet concerned with this aspect of police violence, as the Use of Force Matrix is the central doctrine which governs how much force police are allowed to use. In this case, minus the initial circumstances, you end up with a driver fleeing the scene who is then shot by a cop who obviously doesn’t understand the basics of force application.
When a driver is fleeing in a vehicle, and the vehicle is not headed toward a person, the level of resistance can be considered Active Physical Resistance. Active resistance means that the person is not trying to hurt you, but is actively trying to flee. When you look at the Matrix, fatal force is not authorized under the guidelines. This is also apparent when you look at the system’s handling of the Ray Tensing shooting of Samual Dubose. The court recognized that Tensing violated the Matrix and he was subsequently arrested. That is how the system is supposed to work. The issues at play here are not governed by state statute. They are governed by internationally accepted police procedure and national case law. The fact that the Tensing shooting was in a different should bear no significance in the disparity here.
When Solicitor Chrissy Adams made her decision, did she not review the Use of Force Matrix? Did she completely ignore the Ray Tensing case? Adams decision not to file charges against Lt. Tiller adds insult to injury, not only to the family of Zachary Hammond, but to all of us who hope to live in a free and open society. Based on the facts at hand, the Hammond case is yet another case of over zealous police murder.
