A New Castle County councilman is calling for a federal investigation of the fatal shooting of a wheelchair-bound black man by Wilmington Police last week.
The request comes amid state and local investigations into the shooting of 28-year-old Jeremy McDole.
Officers, most of them white, responded to a 911 call reporting a man in a wheelchair had shot himself last Wednesday. They found McDole on Tulip Street and called for him to put his hands up. Instead, they say he reached for a gun. Officers then opened fire on McDole, killing him.
But McDole's family and some community members dispute that claim, saying no weapon is seen in a citizen video of the incident.
On Monday, county councilman Jea Street sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking her to open a case regarding Wilmington Police's use of deadly force.
Street says his 10th District constituents are shocked and aggrieved over the McDole case. He writes, "The level of tension in the African American community is potentially explosive."
The Delaware District U.S. Attorney's office says it hasn't received Street's letter and couldn't comment on its involvement otherwise. The state Department of Justice and Wilmington Police are conducting separate investigations.
And Delaware ACLU executive director Kathleen McRae says they're watching closely, too:
"We're terribly concerned -- that was an extremely tragic situation," she says. "We would like to see police in the community have a more extensive dialogue about escalation of force, use of force -- and I don't think police should be so quick to jump to deadly force, as they did in the case of the gentleman in the wheelchair."
McRae says regardless of whether officers believed McDole was drawing a weapon, there were other tactics they could have used to disarm him first.
"Certainly, from the video, the gun was not visible in his hand -- he was not holding a gun," she says. "So it just seemed there were interim steps that could have been taken before the killing of the man in the wheelchair occurred."
McRae adds that the ACLU isn't officially involved in the McDole shooting and likely won't be unless the family requests it.
Meanwhile, McDole's mother Phyllis McDole surrendered to police on Monday, charged with assaulting a woman she allegedly believed made the 911 call that brought police to her son. Police say the victim was not responsible for that call.
Street letter to US AG re: McDole shooting
