A Florida deputy's fatal shooting of a U.S. service member has jarred the former top enlisted officer of the Air Force.
This week’s Insider Deals are so good you’ll want all of themFILE - This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, shows Senior Airman Roger Fortson in a Dec. 24, 2019, photo. A Florida deputy's fatal shooting of a U.S. service member has jarred the former top enlisted officer of the Air Force. In 2020, Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth O. Wright warned that his greatest fear was waking up to news that police had killed a Black airman.
On Wednesday, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden went to Hurlburt Field where Fortson served and met with Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, the head of Air Force Special Operations Command, to talk about the next steps. There is no government-managed national data collection system that tracks fatalities caused by law enforcement officers. The FBI has a database, but it's voluntary, and less than two-thirds of local, state, tribal and federal agencies provided data for it last year. In any case, there is no breakdown by race.
The sheriff's office said in a statement posted on Facebook that they have received the local NAACP's “list of demands and understand their concerns.” In the meeting at the airfield, the sheriff “emphasized his commitment to do what is right,” it said. Released police body camera footage shows Fortson had his gun in his hand when he opened his front door, but the barrel was pointed to the floor. Within seconds the deputy shot him, only afterward telling him to drop the weapon.
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