Grand jury votes against criminal probe of CSU officer's shooting visitor

After hearing six hours of testimony from 20 witnesses Tuesday, a Muscogee grand jury recommended authorities pursue no criminal investigation into a Columbus State University police officer’s fatally shooting a campus visitor in 2014.

The decision essentially ends any criminal probe of CSU Police Sgt. Ben Scott’s twice shooting Zikarious Flint on March 30, 2014, when officers reported Flint pointed a gun at them as they chased him through the college’s main campus off University Avenue.

Now attorney Katonga Wright, who represents Flint’s family, will have access to a Georgia Bureau Investigation file on the shooting she can review to decide whether a civil lawsuit is warranted.

If she files suit, “it will be met with a vigorous defense,” said attorney Jim Clark, who with Thomas Gristina represents Scott.

“Sgt. Scott wants to get on with his career and get on with his life,” Clark said. “So he is very pleased that he can move on to the next chapter in his life.”

District Attorney Julia Slater said the 23-member grand jury heard from five witnesses who either were with Flint’s family or were friends who’d been with Flint the day of the shooting. Six were with the university and nine were “third-party witnesses” with no connection to either side of the case, she said.

The grand jurors were asked to make a “civil determination” of whether Scott’s actions deserved a criminal probe.

Unlike a criminal case in which the grand jury reviews the evidence and either returns a criminal indictment with specific charges for trial or issues a “no bill” dismissing the accusations, a “civil determination” suggesting a criminal investigation is only a recommendation the district attorney is not obligated to follow, Slater said.

Had the grand jury recommended further investigation, the district attorney’s staff would have followed up on the GBI probe to decide whether to take any additional findings back to a grand jury for an indictment or no bill.

Slater said she will abide by the grand jury’s recommending she pursue no further action. She will send the GBI a letter confirming her decision, and then the investigative file should be available for the Flints’ attorney to get through an open-records request, she said.

Wright said the Flints were disappointed with the grand jury’s decision, but ready to move onto the next phase in the case.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Wright said of the grand jury review, adding, “Ultimately, we plan to continue forward. This is a one-sided process, obviously, where the grand jury is not able necessarily to hear both sides of the coin, so we’re looking forward to an opportunity where a jury can hear both sides of the presentation of the evidence.”

Flint’s relatives were pleased that they got to address the grand jury, Wright said: “The family was excited about the opportunity to get their point across.”

CSU has given this account of Flint’s fatal shooting that Sunday:

At 2:35 p.m., someone reported seeing a man loading a gun in the gazebo just south of the main campus intramural field, near the Courtyard 1 student apartments. A CSU officer got there in 3 minutes.

The responding officer reported the suspect ran when approached. The chase from the gazebo went into the adjacent student housing complex, turned east to cross University Avenue, went around behind the CSU law enforcement Command College and the Baptist student ministry next door, came back across the avenue and went into the intramural field just north of the gazebo.

On the intramural field where some students were playing Ultimate Frisbee, the officer chasing Flint tried to Tase him, but the two Taser prongs failed to attach.

CSU Police Sgt. Ben Scott, who that day had been assigned to work security at a basketball game in the university’s Lumpkin Center, joined the pursuit as Flint ran south into the Courtyard 1 complex. Carrying a pistol, he ignored officers’ orders to drop the weapon, they said.

Near Building A off University Avenue, Flint turned and raised his gun toward the two officers in pursuit. Scott fired two shots: One hit Flint in the neck and the other hit him in the back.

By Flint’s side, officers found a semi-automatic .40-caliber Glock Model 22 pistol holding eight rounds, they said. At 3:15 p.m., an ambulance took the critically wounded man to the Midtown Medical Center, where he died.

Flint, who was not a CSU student, had gone to the apartments to visit friends, his family said.

After the grand jury’s decision, CSU Police Chief Rus Drew said it confirmed what Scott’s supervisors already believed: That his actions were justified under the circumstances.

“We’re very appreciative of this day,” Drew said. “We knew the day of the incident that the officer had done what was appropriate, followed our protocols. We were very proud of the actions taken, as unfortunate as the outcome was.”

If the university is named in a lawsuit related to Flint’s death, the state of Georgia will provide the school’s legal defense, said CSU spokesman John Lester.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Grand jury votes against criminal probe of CSU officer's shooting visitor ."