Fired sheriff's deputy charged in killing of airman acted reasonably, attorney says

An attorney for the fired Florida sheriff’s deputy charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an Air Force senior airman defended his client’s actions as “reasonable” Thursday, shortly after a judge decided he could be released on bond until his trial. 

Former Okaloosa County deputy Eddie Duran’s “actions were reasonable and appropriate given the information he was provided” and “what he feared to be a potentially dangerous domestic situation,” John Whitaker said in a statement.

“For months now Mr. Duran, his wife, and his six children have been waiting for this opportunity to tell a jury not so much what happened on May 3rd but rather why it happened,” Whitaker said. “In hindsight everyone, especially Mr. Duran, wishes with all their hearts that this incident had never occurred.”

Duran, 38, shot Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson multiple times on May 3, moments after Fortson, 23, opened the door of his Fort Walton Beach apartment. Fortson, who was home alone, was holding a gun pointed to the ground, body camera video shows. Duran had been responding to a call of a domestic disturbance.

Duran was charged with manslaughter with a firearm Friday, more than three months after he fatally shot Fortson and days after Sheriff Eric Aden was re-elected. The felony charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Duran turned himself in Monday.

Circuit Judge Terrance Ketchel set his bond at $100,000 and other conditions, including that he not have contact with Fortson’s family or possess a firearm, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said. As of Thursday afternoon, Duran was no longer listed as an inmate on the website of the Escambia County Jail, where he had been detained.

Fortson’s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, who has criticized the sheriff’s office and how long it took the state attorney to announce whether Duran would face charges, said she was disappointed he was released.

On the day of the shooting, Duran had been directed to apartment 1401, where Fortson lived, by a woman at the apartment complex, body camera video shows. Fortson’s family and their attorneys have insisted Duran went to the wrong apartment, because Fortson was home alone with his small dog on a video call with his girlfriend when he was killed. Records of 911 dispatch calls show deputies had never been called to his apartment before but had been called to a nearby unit several times in the previous year, including once for a domestic disturbance.

Fortson was stationed at Hurlburt Field Air Force Base in Okaloosa County. The Fortson family is from DeKalb County, Georgia.

The body camera video also shows that when Duran arrives at Fortson’s apartment, he stands outside and listens for more than 15 seconds, but no voices inside can be heard on his body camera. Duran then knocks on Fortson’s door without identifying himself. He moves to the side of the door before he knocks again and announces himself. Seconds later, he moves in front of the door, knocks and again says: “Sheriff’s office. Open the door!” Fortson answers the door with a gun in his right hand pointed at the ground, and Duran shoots him almost immediately. After he shoots him multiple times and Fortson collapses, he instructs him to drop his gun.

About two weeks after his killing, Fortson’s girlfriend told WSB-TV of Atlanta, where she lives, that they had been making weekend plans when Duran knocked on the door. She said that neither she nor Fortson was aware Duran was law enforcement and that they had not heard him identify himself. Fortson’s girlfriend, who has asked not to be identified, his family and their attorneys never disputed he was armed and have said he retrieved his legally owned gun to protect himself.

The same month, Ben Crump, the prominent civil rights attorney who is representing the Fortson family, released video that Fortson’s girlfriend recorded in the moments after he was shot. He can be heard groaning and saying, “I can’t breathe.” A deputy yells back at him, “Stop moving!” The phone is pointed at the ceiling.

“Nothing can ever bring Roger back, and our fight is far from over, but we are hopeful that this arrest and these charges will result in real justice for the Fortson family,” Crump said after Duran was charged.

Duran’s attorney rebutted the Fortson family’s account in his statement Thursday, saying that after Duran announced himself, he “heard a response from a voice inside the apartment which featured an expletive questioning why the police were at his door.” He also said Duran drew his weapon only after Fortson confronted him.

The outcome would have been different, Whitaker said, if “Fortson had not decided to open his front door and step towards a law enforcement officer while armed with a deadly weapon.”

After the charges were announced last week, the sheriff’s office said that it stood by its decision to terminate Duran as a result of its administrative internal affairs investigation and that it “has been fully accountable and transparent," including by releasing the body camera video and other records and making numerous public statements. The department said it also continues “to wish Mr. Fortson’s family comfort and peace” as Duran’s case proceeds.

The sheriff’s office had initially said Duran “reacted in self defense.”

On May 31, nearly a month after the killing, Aden announced that Duran had been fired following an administrative internal affairs investigation that concluded “Fortson did not make any hostile, attacking movements, and therefore” Duran’s “use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable” under sheriff’s office policy.

Aden said in a statement May 31, the day the sheriff’s office released the findings of its investigation: “The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson’s actions. Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual.”

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