A Black Georgia family is outraged that a court granted bond to the indicted former Woodstock, Ga., police officer who fatally shot their son in the head, raising questions about devalued Black life in the criminal justice system.
Former Woodstock officer Grant Matthew Shaw surrendered to authorities on April 22 after a grand jury indicted him on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the shooting death of 20-year-old Emmanuel Millard. Shaw was held in jail for a week before the courts granted him a $50,000 bond.
According to the police, Millard led officers on a car chase on Oct. 12, 2023 when they attempted to pull him over for a series of traffic offenses, including failure to maintain his lane, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Millard crashed his gray Hyundai after the pursuing officers used a PIT maneuver (precision immobilization technique). During the attempted arrest, Shaw, 23, shot Millard in the head. He died two days later from his injuries.
Andrew Lampros, an attorney representing Millard’s family, told the AJC that he watched police video of the incident and that it was unclear to him why Shaw fired his weapon.
“At the time of the shooting, he was complying with the officer’s commands. There’s no explanation at all. He was unarmed and not a danger to anyone,” Lampros stated.
“The court and the legal system seems to give more value to the life and death of a police officer than they give to a 20-year-old Black man whose life was just beginning,” Akil Secret, attorney for Emmanuel Millard’s family, told WSB-TV, adding that his family is “extremely devastated” by the news that Shaw was released.
“It really devalues the life of Emmanuel Millard,” Secret said about the bond, adding, “It sends a very poor message to the community as to how safe they can feel.”
The indictment states that Shaw “while in the commission of reckless conduct, an unlawful act, did cause the death of Emmanuel Malik Millard, a human being, without any intention to do so, by pointing a Glock model 34, 9 mm firearm at Emmanuel Malik Millard while his finger was on the trigger, thereby endangering the bodily safety of Emmanuel Malik Millard...”
Shaw has since resigned from the police department.