The Columbus City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to create a new committee to review six months of action by Columbus Police Department’s Special Operations Group.
The group includes CPD officers Yolanda Young and Johnny Branch, both of whom are have been suspended in the aftermath of Ricky Ball’s police-involved shooting death last month. Former CPD officer Canyon Boykin was also a member of the Special Operations Group. The council fired Boykin on Friday.
Boykin, Young and Branch were all in a police car that pulled over a vehicle Ball was a passenger in on Oct. 16. Authorities say Ball fled on foot, was Tased, then pointed a pistol at officers and was shot twice before fleeing. He was found laying a block and a half away and ultimately died of blood loss. Authorities say a 9mm handgun was beside him. That weapon, authorities say, had been reported stolen from a CPD officer’s home in August. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is investigating. None of the officers involved had activated their body cameras prior to or during the incident.
In the wake of the incident, Columbus citizens have organized two marches to show support for Ball and to question the city’s handling of the case.
Columbus Police Chief Tony Carleton tendered his resignation to Mayor Robert Smith on Sunday. The council on Tuesday voted to accept the resignation during executive session. The vote was 4-1 with Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem in opposition. Carleton’s resignation becomes official Nov. 12.
In March, Carleton introduced CPD’s Special Operations Group.
He said the group would conduct foot patrols in neighborhoods with higher crime volume, such as those surrounding Sim Scott Park, meet with residents and stay on top of “quality of life” issues. He said each of the four officers would have a cell phone residents can call anonymously if they see suspicious behavior, rather than call 911 and leave their names. Those numbers are available upon request, Carleton said, and should remove residents’ fear of reprisal for reporting suspicious or criminal activity.
Karriem on Tuesday made the motion to create a committee to review the group’s actions.
“The reason I’m asking this is because I was approached not only at the previous meetings and last night, but I was approached by a gentleman who got 12 tickets at one time by this particular group,” Karriem said. “I just think that as we move forward with the ongoings of this police department this is a way to show transparency.”
Though the council approved the committee’s creation, some of its structural questions remain unclear. Two councilmen — Karriem and Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor — have volunteered to participate. Karriem said he was open to each councilman appointing a representative from their ward to the committee. He also requested that CPD Capt. Fred Shelton be involved in the group.
Shelton said it would take about two weeks to pull the past six months’ worth of the Special Operation Groups’ traffic stops and citations.
“We want to look at the stops within the last six months (by) the group, see if they had their body cameras on, see the relationship they had with the person and what they were stopped for,” Karriem said.
Earlier in the meeting, Ward 4 Councilman Marty Turner said he’d requested similar information from former Police Chief Tony Carleton to no avail.
“I did already ask the chief to get that report to me,” he said. “I’m not sure, because he resigned, if he’ll get that report out, but I have requested it.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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