SAVANNAH, Ga. — The mother of a handcuffed man killed by police said Monday that she doesn’t believe investigators’ findings that her son was armed with a gun and she suspects a cover-up to protect the officer who shot him five times.
Charles Smith, 29, died minutes after Savannah-Chatham County police arrested him Sept. 18 at a convenience store on warrants related to a stolen vehicle. A grand jury last week concluded the shooting was justified, saying evidence showed Smith managed to move his cuffed hands to the front of his body after being placed into a patrol car and drew a gun that officers missed while patting him down.
Speaking to reporters at a roadside memorial where her son was shot, Penny Nelson said she still believes that the officer who fired the shots, David Jannot, “needs some kind of punishment.”
“I believe there was a cover-up somewhere down the line, all of them working together,” Nelson said. “The way they said it happened, it couldn’t have happened like that.”
Chadrick Mance, an attorney for Smith’s family, has filed notice with Savannah officials that he intends to file a wrongful-death lawsuit. But he said Monday that he is not committed to filing a suit.
Mance also hedged when asked whether he’s alleging that police planted a gun on Smith’s body.
“We wouldn’t remove that possibility,” Mance said. “We don’t really know what happened that day.”
Asked for comment, Savannah officials provided a copy of a response letter City Attorney Brooks Stillwell sent to Mance last week saying “an exhaustive review of the evidence” found that Smith had a gun.