A jury in West Palm Beach, Fla., has convicted a former police officer in the shooting death of a black motorist. It's the first time in 30 years that
A jury in West Palm Beach, Fla., has convicted a former police officer in the shooting death of a black motorist. It’s the first time in 30 years that an on-duty police officer in Florida has been convicted in a shooting.
Corey Jones, a housing inspector and part-time musician, was on his way home from a nightclub in October 2015 when his van broke down on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach Gardens. He was on the side of the road in his SUV when he called for roadside assistance.
Jones was on the phone with a tow truck dispatcher when Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja, dressed in plainclothes, wheeled his unmarked van the wrong way down an exit ramp, stopping just feet from Jones‘ van. Raja was part of a team investigating auto theft and was wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap.
On a recording of the phone call with the dispatcher, introduced as evidence at the trial, Raja is never heard identifying himself as a police officer.
