Mar

17

Lima Officer Indicted by Grand Jury

March 17, 2008 |

 Indicted by the Grand Jury it appears that riots won’t start anytime soon. A sure fire way to ensure your safety and place doubts in the officers minds is to simply surround yourself with woman and children. Whether the officer will ever serve time is doubtful. However isn’t clear what evidence there is that would come out in a trial.

LIMA, Ohio (AP) — A white police officer accused of fatally shooting a black woman as she held her 1-year-old son during a drug raid was charged with two misdemeanors Monday, outraging activists and relatives of the woman who said he should face tougher penalties.

Sgt. Joseph Chavalia was charged with negligent homicide in the death of Tarika Wilson, 26, who was killed in a January SWAT raid at her house while looking for her boyfriend. He was charged with negligent assault in the wounding of her son Sincere Wilson, whose finger had to be amputated.

Chavalia pleaded not guilty Monday to both counts. If convicted of both he would face a maximum of eight months in jail.

Here is the press release:

   The Allen County Grand Jury met on March 12 and 13, 2008 and considered evidence regarding the Officer involved shooting that occurred at 218 East Third Street in Lima, Ohio on January 4, 2008.  The shooting resulted in the death of Tarika Wilson, age 26 of Lima, Ohio and serious injury to her son, Sincere Wilson, age 14 months.

 

After hearing two days of testimony from numerous witnesses regarding the investigation conducted by agents of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the Grand Jury returned a Two Count Indictment against Sergeant Joseph A. Chavalia of the Lima Police Department.   Chavalia was charged with one count of Negligent Homicide in violation of Section 2903.05(A) of the Ohio Revised Code a misdemeanor of the first degree, for the shooting death of Tarika Wilson, and one count of Negligent Assault in violation of Section 2903.14(A) of the Ohio Revised Code a misdemeanor of the third degree, for the injuries inflicted upon Sincere Wilson during the shooting.

 

Count I of the Indictment charging the offense of Negligent Homicide alleges that:“on or about January 4, 2008, at Allen County, Ohio, Joseph A. Chavalia, did negligently, by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance as defined in section 2923.11of the Ohio Revised Code, cause the death of another”. Count II of the Indictment charging the offense of Negligent Assault alleges that:

 

“on or about January 4, 2008, at Allen County, Ohio, Joseph A. Chavalia, did negligently, by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance as defined in section 2923.11of the Ohio Revised Code, cause physical harm to another”.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. sian on March 18, 2008 11:58 pm

    the charges would have more openly accepted if the jury was from lima

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