The president of the Navajo Nation has renewed his call for an independent review of the fatal shooting last month of a 21-year-old Navajo man by a Farmington, N.M., police officer. The move comes after the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that it will not conduct a federal civil rights investigation into the death.
"I'm of the opinion that there was really no need for the use of deadly force," Joe Shirley said.
Officer Shawn Scott, called to the scene of a domestic disturbance at a Wal-Mart parking lot June 10, shot Clint John of Kirtland, N.M., four times after John grabbed the policeman's baton and advanced on him. A toxicology report released Wednesday indicated that John had a blood-alcohol level of 0.26, or roughly three times the level for someone to be considered intoxicated.
An internal police review and an external investigation by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office each found that the shooting was justified.
Farmington police Capt. Doug Kennedy said that, despite the Justice Department's decision not to probe, his department is open to further examination.
"We believe that an objective, independent review by any outside agency would tend to validate our own internal investigation and the external investigation by the San Juan County Sheriff's Office," Kennedy said.
Navajo Nation council members last week went into closed session with the tribe's attorney general, who also wants an independent investigation.
"We continue to believe that our questions have not been objectively assessed," said Duane "Chili" Yazzie, president of the Navajos' Shiprock Chapter, which borders Farmington in northwestern New Mexico.
He said council members are not ready to conclude that race was an issue in the police shooting of John, but they know that many Navajos have been victims of racism.
Council delegates from around the 27,000-square-mile reservation, which covers northeastern Arizona as well as reaching into New Mexico and Utah, also heard an oral report on racial violence in border towns. The report was just a prelude to a more comprehensive study for which council members have allocated $300,000.
And Yazzie said that council members will take "a more deliberate and fast-tracked approach to developing services and products that people need on the reservation, so we don't find it necessary to go off the reservation."
Council members discussed having Navajos assert their rights and concerns in public venues, although specific events have not been scheduled.
"The call is there," Yazzie said. "There are different marches for different purposes. In this case we are talking about doing a peaceful march to commemorate and honor those of our relatives who have been killed or hurt in Farmington or other border towns."