Opening arguments held in trial of ex-cop who shot naked man
Posted September 26, 2019 1:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
DECATUR, Ga. — A prosecutor told jurors that a man killed by a police officer was “unarmed, unclothed and unable to do harm” when he was shot.
That came during prosecutor Buffy Thomas’ opening statement Thursday in the trial of Robert “Chip” Olsen. The former DeKalb County police officer faces charges including felony murder in the March 9, 2015, death of Anthony Hill.
Defence attorney Don Samuel repeatedly reminded the jurors that the case boils down to about 6 or 7 seconds that Olsen had to react as Hill charged at him.
Olsen was responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically outside an Atlanta-area apartment complex. Hill, an Air Force veteran, had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD.
A grand jury indicted Olsen about a year after the shooting.
Kate Brumback, The Associated Press
