Jury Recommendations Leave Family Of Slain Teen Unsatisfied
Posted October 14, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A coroner’s inquest into the shooting death of Filipino teen Jeffrey Reodica came to an unsatisfying end for his family on Friday night.
“It’s garbage!” Reodica’s father, Willie, barked after learning of the jury’s recommendations.
Reodica was killed after being shot by Det. Const. Dan Belanger three times in the back on May 21, 2004 during a brawl between two groups of teens.
“Excessive force was done by Detective Belanger. He murdered my son,” the still mourning father added.
Belanger claimed Jeffrey was wielding a knife, but conflicting witness accounts maintain he was unarmed and didn’t pose a serious threat to the officers.
The inquest, which began May 8 before a four-member jury, focused largely on conflicting testimony about whether Belanger and his partner Det. Const. Allen Love properly identified themselves to Reodica and whether a less lethal means of force, like a baton, could have been used.
Reodica family lawyer Barry Swadron explained that the family was upset that the recommendations didn’t include the Special Investigations Unit, which cleared Belanger by calling the shooting justifiable.
“The most disappointing element of the inquest is that the SIU has got off unscathed,” Swadron said.
Key recommendations of the inquest include:
~Requiring that plainclothes officers take all their use-of-force options (such as pepper spray and batons) with them when acting as a uniformed officer, and that training on use of batons be reintroduced.
~A study to determine whether outfitting unmarked cars with sirens, cherry lights, a PA system and/or police jackets or armbands would help identify plainclothes officers when required.
The family’s $5.4 million civil suit against the officers is still ongoing.
