A former Arizona police officer has been charged with manslaughter for fatally shooting a man in a wheelchair who was allegedly stealing a toolbox from Walmart last year.
A grand jury on Wednesday indicted former Tuscon Police Officer Ryan Remington, 32, on charges of’recklessly’ killing Richard Lee Richards, 61, after bodycam footage showed the officer firing nine rounds into the suspect’s back and side on November 30, 2021.
Richard Lee Richards was accused of stealing a toolbox from Walmart.
When asked for a receipt for the item, Richards allegedly pointed a knife in the direction of the store employee.
Richard allegedly told the clerk, “Here’s your receipt,” while brandishing the gun.
A video shows Richards driving his wheelchair from the Walmart across the parking lot to a Lowe’s store nearby, when two cops briefly approach him and urge him to halt.
As Richards rolls up to the entryway of the large box shop, someone can be heard saying, “He’s got a knife in his other hand.”
The family of Richards is glad that the officer will finally go on trial, according to Rick Resch, the family’s attorney.
The previous nine months have been very trying for Mr. Richards’s family, but they are glad that former Officer Ryan Remington has been charged and will likely face justice for shooting and murdering Mr. Richards, according to a statement from Resch.
In Arizona, “recklessly causing the death of another person” is a class two felony punishable by a minimum sentence of seven years in prison.
Remington did not provide a grand jury testimony or make any justifications for self-defense.
According to Mike Storie, Remington’s attorney, “manslaughter doesn’t even fit.” It’s a legal fiction, but I don’t want to engage into legal debates.
As a result, I’ll be quite curious to read the grand jury report and learn what happened in that room while I wasn’t there.
As previously stated by Storie, his client “had no non-lethal choices.”
The wheelchair being in between him and Richards prevented him from feeling as if he had the necessary spread to use the taser, according to the attorney.
Regina Romero, the mayor of Tucson, praised the accusations made against the ex-cop.
She wrote, “It is a matter for the courts to determine as Ryan Remington will face criminal charges after the Grand Jury’s indictment.”
After an internal inquiry followed the incident, then-police Chief Chris Magnus fired Remington, a four-year department veteran.
The ex-remark, cop’s according to the chief, “seriously upset and worried” him.
Shortly after Thanksgiving in 2021, Remington was on “security duty” at the retail store in Midvale Park Shopping Center when Richards was questioned by a Walmart employee who thought the crippled guy had been stealing.
Richards had hip surgery while incarcerated, and since then, he is restricted to a wheelchair. Victoria Richards, his sister, spoke to KGUN. She said that her brother had struggled with drug addiction and spent the most of his life behind bars.
While serving a term, he offered to assist in fighting forest fires; however, he slipped over a cliff and hurt his skull.
He had significant brain damage when he was released. I welcomed him into my home and taught him how to drive and count money. Although everything returned rather fast, she said last year that it was like having a kid all over again.
The night of the shooting, after a disagreement with her brother, she dropped him off at the mall.
A Walmart clerk challenged him about the toolbox at approximately 9:30 p.m. and demanded that he provide proof of purchase.
The shop clerk claims that at that point, the customer drew a knife and refused to return the merchandise.
Video evidence from the incident shows shop security pursuing Richards across the parking lot in an effort to reclaim the goods.
Richards allegedly said to the Walmart employee, “You’re going to have to shoot me if you want me to put down the knife.”
Officer Stephanie Taylor, Remington, and a different unnamed male officer from Tucson Police arrived after being contacted.
You can hear the former cop telling the man, “Sir, don’t walk inside the shop.”
Also audible is Taylor screaming, “Stop right now.” Stop right now.
Remington’s bodycam video captures him taking out his pistol and starting to fire his service weapon from behind at that very time, shooting until Richards sags over and exits his wheelchair.
While another male officer, who was not named by the TPD, starts to handcuff Richards, Taylor can be heard claiming that she is going to grab something.
The three policemen can be seen treating to Richards’ wounds in Lowe’s surveillance film, but he was soon pronounced dead at the site.
Remington must be detained and photographed at the Pima County Superior Court upon his indictment. On August 31, he will be arraigned on the manslaughter accusations.