No criminal charges for officer in teen's fatal shooting

ATLANTA — A grand jury has decided not to indict a Union City police officer who shot a teen in the back last December.

Ariston Waiters, 19, was shot and killed after an altercation with a policeman on the night of Dec. 14.

The Medical Examiner's Office said Waiters was shot twice in the back.

In January, sources confirmed to Channel 2's Tony Thomas that the officer in question was Luther Lewis. Lewis' personnel file showed he had a clean record as a Union City officer.

There were also no formal complaints shown in his file, and his commanders gave him high remarks in yearly reviews.

Union City police said Waiters was fighting with Lewis, trying to take his gun, when he was shot and killed.

The GBI investigated the case and turned its findings over to the Fulton County district attorney's Public Integrity Unit in January.

The grand jury got the case Wednesday afternoon and handed down its decision just after 10:30 p.m.

An attorney for the Waiters family said his mother is heartbroken over the decision.

"Freda Waiters is devastated. It's hard to describe the pain that she is in at this point," attorney Mawuli Mel Davis said after the grand jury disbanded for the night.

Davis said the Waiters family will continue to fight.

The family is planning a community rally Thursday in honor of Waiters.

WSBTV