DPD officer involved in fatal shooting has history of incidents

(WJBK) - The Detroit cop that shot and killed unarmed 19-year old Raynard Burton was involved in two other shootings while employed with DPD.

FOX 2 is not naming him because he has not been charged in a crime. The first shooting was in 1998.

The other 2015.

"I'm trying to raise the attention that this guy needs to be sidelined," said attorney Sarah Prescott. "And it hasn't happened yet,"

Attorney Sarah Prescott represents Demar Parker, the man shot in that encounter with the officer and two other off-duty cops.

Investigators determined the shooting was justified. Detroit police say Parker nearly ran officers over with a car before driving away, but was never charged with a crime.

He is suing DPD for excessive force but the case is in limbo.

"If you are an officer and someone uses deadly force against you, someone drives a car at you or does something dangerous like that," Prescott said. "Guess what, you can arrest them. You go follow them, you go arrest them, you put them in handcuffs and take them to jail.

"Did any of that happen, no it did not. They just shot my client riddled his car with bullets, said fare thee well and sent him on his way."

The shooting in 1998 also happened while the officer was off duty.  He shot a man outside of a bank because he wrongly thought the victim was trying to rob him, the officer was not disciplined.

"It just goes further to prove this gentleman shouldn't even have a badge," said Kenneth Reed, Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality.  "He shouldn't even be on the street."

"I think it's a leap to make that assertion," said former Detroit police chief Ralph Godbee.

Former chief Godbee says it's not so much about how many times an officer shoots someone but whether the shootings are justified.

FOX 2: "This officer who shot a 19 year old, does it give you pause that he was involved in two other shootings?"

"It doesn't give me pause," Godbee said. "From a risk management standpoint if I'm a chief or I'm the investigator, I'm looking at some risk factors would he be more likely to pull his weapon on because of his past or you have to look at how many felony arrests has he made? How many guns has he taken off the street?

"When I think a cop is wrong, I don't follow the thin blue line. I call balls, balls and strikes, strikes. In this instance it appears, on the surface - because it is preliminary and there's a lot of work left to do -- the DPD, state police are doing everything by the numbers.

"So if there's anything inappropriate, I don't think DPD is going to hide from that."

The city paid out a six-figure settlement for that shooting in 1998 and it also played a role in the department going under federal oversight. As for the shooting a couple weeks ago, the investigation is ongoing.