Credit: Buford
Cleveland police officer Alan Buford was indicted by a grand jury today on a negligent homicide charge stemming from the March 2015 shooting death of Brandon Jones. 

After robbing an eastside grocery store, Jones ended up in a scuffle with Buford and another officer. Buford shot once, killing the 18-year-old man. Jones was unarmed. 

“It was reasonable for the police to respond as they did to a 911 call of a break-in, reasonable to confront the suspect with guns drawn as he left the store with stolen merchandise and to order him to stop,” prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in a public statement. “It is not reasonable for a police officer to use deadly force if he or she does not believe a suspect poses a threat of death or serious bodily harm to the police or the public.”

This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2016.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

2 replies on “Cleveland Police Officer Indicted in March 2015 Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Teen”

  2. The prosecutorial batting average for Tim McGinty is well below MLB’s Mendoza Line. He should stick to making childish quips about the Howard Stern Show.

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