On Wednesday, June 26 the family of a 5-year-old child shot by a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy announced that they had retained the services of prominent civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Bakari Sellers to get justice for the stricken child and hold all parties in the shooting of the child accountable.
The Douglas County deputy involved in the shooting of the five-year-old was allegedly in pursuit of a 25-year-old suspect, Rashauny Mike Palmer, who was fleeing on foot from authorities after escaping from the back of a police car. After a protracted chase Palmer allegedly attempted to carjack passengers at a local gas station. The deputy fired into the car that the suspect was attempting to take, and shot the child in the process, according to information from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“I don’t know what action movie this deputy thought he was in, but that kind of callous disregard for basic safety gets innocent people killed in the real world,” said Crump. “Recklessness and negligence aren’t strong enough to describe what he did. He is a clear danger and he must be held accountable.”
The 5-year-old girl who was seated in the backseat of the car survived her injuries and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Palmer was being sought on charges of aggravated assault and kidnapping in connection to an incident that occurred earlier that evening.