FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Fulton County grand jury is hearing the case of a former police officer accused of shooting and killing an unarmed teen in the back.
Union City police officer Luther Lewis was cleared by an earlier grand jury in 2012, but District Attorney Paul Howard reopened the case in May after a Channel 2 Action News-Atlanta Journal Constitution investigation exposed new witnesses and details that were not presented the first time around.
"I've been told this before, so I'm going to wait for judgment to see what they do," said Freda Waiters, whose son Ariston was shot and killed by Lewis in December 2011.
Waiters is optimistic, but wary of the justice system.
Her 19-year-old son had not committed a crime that day; he was in a crowd watching a neighborhood fight and took off running when police arrived to break it up.
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"Even if the deceased in this case had physically defended himself, he had a right to do it because he was being illegally arrested," Howard told investigative reporters Jodie Fleischer and Brad Schrade in May when they questioned him about the case.
Lewis chased Ariston into a wooded area and already had him face down on the ground with one arm in handcuffs when Lewis said the teen tried to reach up behind him toward the officer's gun.
Lewis fired two shots into Ariston's back.
"I went with everything I had, like bam bam," Lewis told GBI investigators shortly after the shooting. Investigators recorded a video of Lewis demonstrating how it happened.
But an expert found Lewis' statements to be inconsistent with forensic evidence, and noted "a disregard for human life that is unacceptable."
The 2012 grand jury considered charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and violation of oath, but opted not to indict after hearing a tearful plea from the officer.
"I was surprised that the grand jurors did not do it," Howard said in May.
Officer Chris McElroy, the first Union City supervisor to arrive that night, was also surprised.
"It's not sat right with me from the very first time I arrived on the scene," said McElroy, adding that his chief directed him not to write a statement, so he never spoke with the GBI or the first grand jury.
He said he never thought the shooting was justified, based on what Lewis said, and his history.
"Everyone had concerns that he had issues," McElroy told Fleischer and Schrade.
He was reluctant to speak about the case, but said he felt compelled to do so, given the recent climate surrounding police-involved shootings.
About a month before the Waiters shooting, McElroy said he found Lewis pointing his gun at another teen. Channel 2 and the AJC confirmed that the teen in that incident is scheduled to testify before the new grand jury about his encounter with Lewis.
In another earlier case, Lewis fired his gun in a wooded area, claiming that someone shot at him, but investigators doubted his story.
A sergeant wrote up Lewis after a raid in which he said he saw movement in a house that turned out to be empty.
A captain previously counseled Lewis, concerned that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
None of those incidents appeared in Lewis's police department file, so the first grand jury never heard about them.
Channel 2 Action News cameras were rolling Wednesday as current and former Union City police officers and other key witnesses arrived at the Fulton County courthouse.
Sources tell us that testimony will likely continue into Thursday.
Freda Waiters said she will be there.
"My son is dead and gone. I can't get him back, but I am going to get justice for my son," she said.
Cox Media Group
