The family of Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by a Franklin County sheriff’s deputy in Columbus, Ohio, last week, is now calling for the cop who fatally shot him to be removed from the force.
Since Goodson was shot by Deputy Jason Meade, local authorities have justified the killing by saying Goodson was waving a gun at members of a police task force, while his family has maintained that he was shot in the back while returning home with Subway sandwiches.
Now Goodson’s mother is calling for the firing of Meade, who the Columbus Police say has been with the force for 17 years.
“I want Jason Meade’s badge before he ever hurts another person, he is a danger to society,” said Goodson’s mother Tamala Payne, in a statement to The Root. “He killed my son in cold blood. If it was me who did this, if it was Casey, we would already be in jail. But Meade is at home, comfortable. There is a different system of justice for police officers than there is for Black people, for me, for my family. When does it end?”
Payne’s pain and outrage echo so many Black families who lost their loved ones to police violence this year and have seen no justice. Most visible among them is 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, who was killed by cops who entered her Louisville in March home and shot her multiple times. None of those cops have been charged for her death. After a year of protests against the summary executions of Black people in America by police on the streets, it’s deeply tragic that the year is closing with yet another one.
Meanwhile, the Franklin County coroner’s office has officially ruled Goodson’s death a homicide.
From the New York Times:
The coroner’s office said that an autopsy was performed on Mr. Goodson’s body on Tuesday and that Mr. Goodson died from “multiple gunshot wounds to the torso.” The office said in a statement that it was waiting for medical records and a toxicology report before issuing a final report, expected in 12 to 14 weeks.
Homicide is generally defined as any killing of one person by another. The coroner’s office declined to answer questions about how many times Mr. Goodson was shot, from which direction the bullets entered his body or what type of bullets struck him.
While officials in Franklin County immediately said Goodson’s killing was justified, the FBI and Department of Justice joined the local police investigation into the incident this week after outcry from the family and the Columbus community. Police claim that no other officers witnessed the shooting, no body camera footage of the incident exists, and they haven’t identified any civilian eyewitnesses. Meanwhile, the family’s lawyers said in a statement that Goodson’s killing was witnessed by his 72-year-old grandmother and two toddlers.