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StumbleChief: Answers have to wait for inquest
But he defends officer who fatally shot mother of three at her ice cream truck
Henderson Police Chief Richard Perkins had few answers about the shooting death of Deshira Selimaj, an Albanian immigrant and mother of three, during a news conference Thursday at the Henderson Police Department.
Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Henderson Police Press Conference
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On Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, Chief Richard Perkins of the Henderson police department, held a press conference to address the shooting of 42-year-old Deshira Selimaj by police officer Luke Morrison.
Henderson Police Chief Richard Perkins speaks with Henderson Police spokesman Keith Paul before Thursday’s news conference.
Stepping to the microphone Thursday, Henderson’s police chief tried to clarify what happened when one of his young officers shot and killed an ice cream lady the afternoon of Feb. 12.
Instead, Chief Richard Perkins’ remarks only verified what the public already knew: The police account of the events is wildly different from those of the victim’s family and other witnesses who have spoken to various Las Vegas news organizations.
This discrepancy leaves the public still in the dark about the shooting, but it also underscores an irony of law enforcement in Southern Nevada. When it comes to everyday slayings and other violence in our valley, details are usually available from police or police documents or both. When an officer kills someone, however, no documents are released and most details are closely guarded until a coroner’s inquest is conducted, weeks if not months later. In the case of the ice cream truck driver, for example, the inquest is scheduled for April 11.
At his news conference, Perkins read a prepared speech and then answered many of the media’s questions with a refrain of “Wait for the coroner’s inquest.”
That was the answer to:
• Can you tell us about the knife Deshira Selimaj, the ice cream truck driver, was allegedly threatening police with before she was shot?
• Can you tell us more about how Selimaj, an average-sized mother of three, reportedly attacked an officer at the scene, prompting another officer to shoot?
• Can you tell us why the Tasers two officers used on Selimaj didn’t work? Or why a number of witnesses, including her children, insist she didn’t have a knife? Or why a woman who says she saw it happen told a reporter at The Home News, “It was unjustified, it was aggressive. The woman never should have been shot”?
The rationale for lumping everything under the veil of the coroner’s inquest is that the process is akin to a trial. Prosecutors from the district attorney’s office ask questions of officers and witnesses and a jury considers all the testimony and evidence before determining whether the use of deadly force was justified, excusable or criminal.
Revealing too many details about the case prior to the inquest, police argue, might taint the jury pool.
As Perkins put it, police want to avoid trying the case in the press.
“We are trying to respect the judicial system,” he said.
If anyone other than a police officer had pulled the trigger, however, police would have filled out one or more reports that under Nevada law are public records, and police typically would have answered many of the media’s questions about the case.
Before seating jurors to try any case, lawyers and judges screen out potential jurors who have followed the media reports closely and already have decided whether the defendant is guilty. The same could be done for an inquest.
Which supports a familiar refrain: The Clark County coroner’s inquest needs to be reformed.
Gary Peck, director of the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union, has worked closely with the families of police shooting victims in his role as a civil liberties watchdog, and he calls the coroner’s inquest a “stilted and one-sided sham.”
Since 1976, when the inquest process was adopted, officers have been cleared in all but one case, and that one case was years ago.
In the wake of several controversial killings by Las Vegas police — including one in which a handcuffed teen who had been arrested on a charge of murder was shot while running from police — Peck helped lead an effort to change the coroner’s inquest system last year. There were months of meetings involving people on all sides of the issue. But virtually all the changes the ACLU advocated wound up being rejected by the Clark County Commission.
Critics of the inquest process find fault in the fact that police officers, who conduct in-house investigations of any officer-involved shooting, are then questioned by district attorneys, who base their line of questioning on the police department’s report.
In a case like this one, in which several witnesses have given statements that contradict the police version of events, it remains to be seen whether those witnesses wind up delivering that testimony at the inquest.
District Attorney David Roger says his attorneys seek out additional testimony if they feel it is necessary.
Peck says he has seen attorneys and detectives do just the opposite: ignore testimony that doesn’t fit with the police version of events.
“It’s clear to me they don’t have a process for carefully identifying and vetting witnesses and making sure that all of the pertinent witnesses are called,” Peck said. “This is a government-run show.”
In the case of Deshira Selimaj, the discrepancies lie in whether Selimaj had a knife, held that knife to her child and made suicidal statements. Some witnesses report Selimaj was shot while wailing on her knees. Perkins says the coroner’s inquest will prove that Selimaj attacked an officer, and that the officer who fired the fatal bullet, 23-year-old Luke Morrison, “saved a fellow officer’s life.”
Perkins characterized Morrison as a war hero, noting that he had been in the Army prior to joining the force and had been injured in Iraq.
There are many witnesses who say Selimaj had a knife and threatened the officers, but the media has not reported their accounts, Perkins complained.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there and the officers are being unfairly characterized,” he said.
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The Henderson Police Department is protecting it's own and not "the public". Looks like a cover up to me. We definitely need a third party inquiry,...like the FBI.
We should save a lot of money and get rid of the court system. Seems that some readers here have
ESP so they can make judgment without knowing the facts of any case.
The poster GOD can head up the court. He always knows better then everyone else. He believes that no one ever breaks the law in Vegas and that the police are always wrong.
once again the conspiracy theorists are at it. it must be nice to be able to see everything in black and white. i for one would like to hear the whole story, and not base my judgements on such a rash reporters need for glory.
I personally find it hard to believe that this highly trained police officer and war hero couldn't disarm a 42 year old female and had only one option to execute her in front of her family. How can this be condoned by the powers to be within the Henderson Police Dept.? They should be looking into why two officers with Tasers, pepper spray, batons and training to handle these situations couldn't keep control of a misdemeanor traffic stop scene and ended up killing a wife and mother. It will go to the Coroners Inquest and be rule justifiable, but I would guess if this same scenario went in front of a Grand Jury this highly trained war hero would be facing murder or at least manslaughter charges.
The highest paid police in the country apparently had at least a half dozen vehicles and a commensurate number of officers at the scene but couldn't stop a 40 year old women without using lethal force.
What kind of scary knife does an ice cream vendor carry anyway?
Is the DA that afraid of the police? In this county I imagine that's justified.
Our voters will probably give them their requested next pay raise also.
The law enforcement here should train their officers to be better communicators rather than have a quick judgement to use excessive or lethal force to end the life of the mother of 3 children. I echo the same thought as gannettp had written. The highly trained officer should have used other means to subdue the victim other than pulling the trigger.
Do people really believe the police go around looking for innocent parents to shoot dead? There wasn't a language barrier, this man simply refused to sign his 2nd ticket that day-$900 for speeding in a school zone. This is not his first encounter with law enforcement, he's had past issues and he's been incarcerated before. Sadly, when the wife also didn't cooperate with the police it escalated to the point where force was used. Please let this be a lesson for the people that think it's a good idea to argue with law enforcement in these situations.
So, according to poster Henderson, if you argue with police, you can be shot and killed in front of your kids.
I doubt Henderson has taken a glance at the Constitution lately. The 5th amendment reads (in part), No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
Sorry Henderson, but this should not be a lesson against arguing. That's our right...
He should have signed the citation. The wife turned a misdemeanor traffic stop into a felony assault with a deadly weapon on a Police Officer. The officer responded appropriately.
To GOD-- You must be a Communist......
If these cops can't handle one small upset woman God help us all - any one of could be next.
To the medias question, why didn't the tazers work.
Tazers usually are much less effective on women who have been through child birth.
God is an idiot, no doubt. Do you really think Officer Morrison went into briefing that morning and said, "hey, I think I will shoot someone today"? This officer has a mother, do you think in an instant that he would want to shoot someone elses mother? How brainwashed are you. I suggest, since you know it better than everyone else, that you strap on a bullet proof vest and go on a ride-a-long with an officer to see what we truly do. since you have no clue. Officer Morrison was trained correctly. He was not shooting to kill her, he was trying to stop her. as for shooting her in the leg or the knife out of her hand, that only happens in movies, not real life.
1. We need to take away the guns from the cops. They can't be trusted to use them appropriately.
2. We need to prosecute Morrison to the full extent of the law.
3. People are not going to sit back and let cops gun people down. Especially women, especially mothers in front of their children!!
4. I don't think its a matter of liberal or conservative thinking. Its a matter of whether or not a cop has the mental makeup to be a cop.
5. I understand being a cop is a scary job. There are bad guys out there somewhere. I don't think that is the issue here.
6. If the cops only way of dealing with a wacko woman with a knife is to shoot her I think they need to find another line of work.
7. The citizens need to beware and take this seriously. the citizens need to make sure this cop is brought to justice.
8.I can't remember who said this but it is so true "When the police become the militia, the community becomes the enemy"
I think Officer Morrison was trigger happy.
Are you really sure she had a knife or was it an ice cream scoop? Or maybe just an excuse to justify shooting?
Where are the videos like they show on "COPS" tv?
This looks to be an over reaction by the police!
I hope this type of police action will never happen again!
This is a very sad situation for a stupid traffic violation!