Neighboring states have put in place strategies to remove police and prosecutors from investigating use-of-force incidents in recent years.
In New Jersey, the attorney general’s office established a public integrity and accountability office that oversees incidents involving deadly force or serious injury by selecting independent investigators or performing investigations itself. In Delaware, the Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust investigates use-of-force incidents, and Maryland has enacted sweeping legislation that tasks the state attorney general’s office with investigating all fatalities involving police.
Jacob, one of the Hall family lawyers, has filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General about the way the case was handled. He wants the office to look at the statements made by the State Police about the shooting and compare them to what the unredacted video shows.
While the video does not appear to show Christian pointing the gun directly at troopers before he was shot, the accounts by State Police and the DA’s office are inconsistent on this point in their statements.
Jacob received a letter from a deputy inspector general saying the office would evaluate the complaint.
He thinks the office should look at other cases where there’s body camera footage to see if State Police statements match the video. Jacob said that in most cases, the footage is not available to the public because it is not subject to the state’s open records law.
“Are the State Police accurately reporting its actions to the people?” he asked.
While the Hall family plans to keep fighting for change, Thursday will commemorate Christian, Fe Hall said.
She believes he would be ecstatic to see people coming together to remember him and about the way people are using his name to push for justice for Asian Americans and people in mental health crises.
“He was a person, he mattered,” she said. “And he has a family, a grieving family. And as a family, we want to remember him.”
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