The two Sacramento police officers who shot and killed unarmed Stephon Clark in March are already back on duty. The two cops were assigned to desk duty during an internal investigation into the police involved shooting.
The two cops responded to a 911 report of a man vandalizing cars in the Sacramento neighborhood on March 18. The two cops spotted a man wearing a black hoodie and pursued him through backyards and over a fence.
The pursuit ended in the backyard of Clark’s grandmother’s home. A police helicopter pilot saw Clark hop the fence into the backyard.
Clark, 22, was shot 8 times and was pronounced dead at the scene after the cops mistook his white cell phone for a gun.
The police later said they thought Clark was holding a gun before they emptied their gun clips at him.
An autopsy shows Clark was shot six times in the back as he lay in a prone position on a concrete patio.
Video from the helicopter shows multiple bullets ricocheting off the concrete patio behind Clark as he lay motionless. The 2 officers fired 20 times in total.
Riots erupted around the country as activists called for the cops to be terminated and charged with murder.
The Sacramento Police Department declined to identify the two cops, but a prominent civil rights attorney identified the officers as Terrence Mercado and Jared Robinet. One of the officers is black.
