MACON, Ga. (AP) - Activists have called for a new investigation into the death of an unarmed black man fatally shot by a deputy in a grocery store parking lot nearly 8 years ago.
A news conference held in Macon, Georgia, on Monday called for the reopening of the shooting that killed Sammy “Junebug” Davis in December 2012, WMAZ-TV reported. It comes several years after a district attorney who oversaw the case ruled that a deputy who shot Davis had acted properly following a Georgia Bureau of Investigation probe into the shooting.
The deputy, Clayton Sutton, claimed Davis attacked him and was later fired from the sheriff’s office for his actions in a different case. He had previous complaints filed against him for excessive force and a history of suspensions, WMAZ-TV reported at the time.
Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis also said the case should be reopened during the news conference.
“Should there be any new credible evidence that calls into question the forensic evidence that corroborated eyewitness testimony, I would personally be more than happy to reopen the case,” District Attorney David Cooke, who made the decision not to press charges against Sutton following the GBI investigation, said in a statement.
Cooke said independent reviews of the police shooting showed “there was no evidence to pursue charges against Officer Sutton.”
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