A Rockford police officer has been cleared in the shooting of an unarmed black man fleeing a traffic stop back in October.
Winnebago County State’s Attorney Marilyn Hite Ross announced that Rockford Police Officer Dominik McNiece was legally justified in his shooting of 21-year-old Tyris Jones.
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“At the time that Officer McNiece discharged his weapon in the direction of Tyris Jones, he had reason to believe that Tyris Jones posed a threat to the community based upon three outstanding felony warrants,” said Ross.
Ross also said that given the circumstances Officer McNiece was justified in his belief that Jones had a weapon, despite no weapon being recovered at the scene. Additionally, Ross announced that video footage of the shooting would not be released to the public.
Jones was scheduled to appear in court on November 24th. A $1 million bench warrant has been issued for his arrest.
- Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco is a 2020 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project which is a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms.