D.C. officers spent nearly a year on paid leave during shooting probe
Two D.C. police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy that divided the city and drove a wedge between city cops and the Fenty administration have been ordered back on the job, The Examiner has learned.
Officers James Haskel and Anthony Clay spent nearly a year on paid leave while authorities investigated their off-duty shooting of DeOnte Rawlings in an alley in Southeast.
The men were cleared of criminal wrongdoing earlier this year and now have been ordered back on the job — Haskel without discipline and Clay with an official reprimand for having used the wrong kind of ammunition in his weapon and for having moved his vehicle from the scene of DeOnte’s killing, sources told The Examiner.
Their reinstatements bring to a close a lengthy controversy over DeOnte’s death. His family is suing the department and the city for $100 million.
Someone had broken into Haskel’s home in mid-September and stolen a minibike. He and his friend Clay were driving in the neighborhood looking for it when they saw DeOnte sitting astride it. A brief but furious gunbattle ensued, leaving DeOnte dead.
The FBI’s ShotSpotter technology told authorities that the officers were fired on first with a .45-caliber pistol, but the weapon has never been recovered. The shooting infuriated some in the neighborhood who saw DeOnte as the victim of rogue cops.
Mayor Adrian Fenty held a series of news conferences promising “justice” to angry neighbors. At one of his media events, Fenty handed the microphone to two of DeOnte’s sisters, who used the chance to accuse the police department of murdering their brother.
That infuriated rank-and-file police who felt the officers had acted appropriately.
After they were cleared of criminal wrongdoing, Haskel and Clay told The Examiner that Fenty owed them an apology.
Fenty has refused to discuss the controversy. Police Chief Cathy Lanier didn’t respond to requests for comment. Police union leader Kristopher Baumann said that line officers haven’t forgotten or forgiven their leaders’ conduct during the DeOnte controversy.
“The mayor failed these officers and this department. And now he ought to come out and explain himself,” Baumann said.
