Tennessee sheriff’s deputies are refusing to launch particulars as to why they shot and killed an 18-year-old Black man throughout an early morning raid aside from he “displayed a firearm” — which can or is probably not true judging by the company’s historical past of lies.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Workplace shot and killed Daevon Montez Saint-Germain on Jan. 3 after raiding his household’s house at 7:30 a.m. with an alleged search warrant.
However virtually every week later, the sheriff’s workplace has refused to specify the explanations behind the search warrant.
As an alternative, they’ve turned the investigation over to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, which can be refusing to launch any particulars concerning the capturing underneath the rationale that it’s nonetheless underneath investigation.
However Saint-Germain’s household and pals are demanding solutions and accountability over the capturing that resulted within the slaying of a younger Black man who was on his method to turning into a industrial truck driver.
Nevertheless, the Knox County Sheriff’s Workplace doesn’t equip its SWAT workforce with physique cameras, in keeping with the Knoxville Information Sentinel, which additionally states the neighboring Knoxville Police Division does require its SWAT workforce to put on physique cameras.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Workplace was truly one of many first legislation enforcement companies within the state to concern physique cameras, whereas town’s police division waited one other 5 years earlier than issuing the cameras to its officers.
“However since then, the sheriff’s workplace has a historical past of downplaying use of power captured on deputies’ bodycams,” the Information Sentinel reported.
“And in a single case from 2021, KCSO denied having bodycam video of a raid regardless that it had voluminous recordings. In one other case from 2021, KCSO reported it had no video from an arrest, however later produced a video clip,” the newspaper added.
Through the years, the Information Sentinel has been reporting on the dearth of transparency from the Knox County Sheriff’s Workplace, revealing that the company even hides physique digicam footage from the Knox County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
“The sheriff’s workplace failure to adjust to the legislation raises questions on how usually it conceals video proof and questions on prosecutions that depend on the company’s investigations,” in keeping with an article from April 2024.
“And it reveals the implications of what occurs when one of many largest legislation enforcement companies within the state operates with zero oversight.”
No Transparency
Within the aftermath following the capturing dying of Saint-Germain, the sheriff’s workplace has been obscure about whether or not there’s obtainable physique digicam footage from the raid, neither confirming or denying existence of physique digicam footage.
And a public data request by Atlanta Black Star for obtainable movies, pictures and paperwork from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations associated to the case was denied, citing the investigation in addition to the actual fact we’re primarily based outdoors the state of Tennessee.
Additionally, the 2 search warrants stay sealed within the Knox County Felony Court docket, making it unavailable to the general public, in keeping with the Information Sentinel.
Saint-Germain’s grandmother, Ernestine Silver, mentioned deputies barged into the house, refusing to indicate the warrants, handcuffing the teenager’s mom and ordering the youngsters outdoors of the house earlier than getting into the teenager’s room the place he had been sleeping, WBIR reported.
Simply over an hour after the capturing, the Knox County Sheriff’s Workplace issued the next assertion on its Fb web page:
Preliminary data from the scene reveals officers had been serving a search warrant. The suspect refused to observe instructions whereas officers had been making an attempt to convey him into custody and displayed a firearm, at which period officers discharged their weapons. The officers concerned on this incident are unhurt; nevertheless, the suspect is deceased.
The teenager’s mother and father, Raymond Saint-Germain and Savanna Christy Siler Saint-Germain, haven’t responded to interview requests from Atlanta Black Star to acquire extra particulars, and neither mother or father has spoken to native media, maybe underneath authorized recommendation from an lawyer.
However one among his finest pals, a white teen named Logan Butler, remembered Daevon as one of many few college students who befriended him at South-Doyle Excessive College when he first moved to Tennessee two years in the past.
“I initially moved right here from Massachusetts about two years in the past and Daevon was one of many first individuals I had ever spoken to,” the 17-year-old boy instructed the Knoxville Information Sentinel throughout a protest Tuesday outdoors a Knoxville Metropolis Council assembly.
“He was simply so outgoing and he was the one person who listened to what I needed to say. We skipped faculty to purchase this field truck and after he graduated we had been going to enter enterprise. Then the police got here and simply shot him out of completely nowhere. Simply stunning,” Butler added.
Siam Lyabili, 29, a Black man who additionally attended the protest, believes the capturing was simply one other instance of racism inside legislation enforcement.
“I really feel the entire concept of justice isn’t there for everyone and a few individuals are checked out extra like a risk, particularly younger Black males,” he instructed the Information Sentinel.
“He was only a little one,” mentioned Jessica Thompson, 40, who remembered Daevon working at Taco Bell and recording movies along with his good friend, Logan.
“We had been all touched by him sooner or later or in some facet of our lives.”
