Norton Releases Justice Dept. Letter on Investigation of Park Police Shooting in Trinidad (8/6/09)
Norton Releases Justice Department Letter on Investigation of Park Police Shooting in Trinidad Community
August 6, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released a letter from Assistant U.S. Attorney General Ronald Weich in response to her July 28th letter seeking clarification of oral communications to her staff concerning which entity of the federal government is investigating the June 8th fatal shooting of District resident Trey Joyner by U.S. Park Police. In her letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Norton indicated that she had been informed that the investigation would be led by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, but that it was not until a month later that her staff was informed, to the contrary, that the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia would be conducting the investigation. Norton has now requested a meeting with the head of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
The Congresswoman noted in her letter that the Office of the U.S. Attorney General for the District of Columbia has had the information that was made available to the community all along. A representative of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia spoke at a community meeting, where Norton passed along the information, and the Congresswoman had issued a press release in advance of the community meeting, which stated that she had been told that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department would lead the investigation of the shooting. In her July 28th letter, Norton said that she did not question the objectivity of the other law enforcement officials, although she told the community at the meeting that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was particularly credible authority because of its experience investigating local police departments, and because this incident involved a rare situation of a shooting of a local citizen by a federal police officer.
The Congresswoman's letter and the Justice Department's response is attached.