Trial to start for Georgia cop who shot naked, unarmed man
A police officer responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically at an Atlanta-area apartment complex arrived on the scene, exited his vehicle and shot the man almost immediately. Robert “Chip” Olsen, then a DeKalb County officer, fatally shot 27-year-old Anthony Hill on March 9, 2015. Olsen is white and Hill was black. Now a jury must decide if Olsen’s guilty of murder.
Hill had been medically discharged from the Air Force and was being treated for bipolar disorder but had stopped taking his medication because he didn’t like the side effects, his girlfriend, Bridget Anderson, said right after he died. The apartment complex maintenance supervisor said he saw Hill outside the leasing office in shorts and a T-shirt saying strange things, like, “The devil is coming,” and asking for help. He got Hill to go to his apartment, but Hill reemerged without clothes. Leasing office staff called 911.
Olsen was responding to that call, told by dispatch there was a naked man who was “possibly demented.” Hill was squatting in a roadway when Olsen arrived but jumped up and ran toward the patrol car (asking for help), Olsen testified. Olsen drew his gun as he exited his car and yelled, “Stop! Stop!” Hill didn’t stop, and Olsen shot him “maybe a second” after giving the order, he testified.
Olsen, 57, and his attorneys have said he was being attacked, feared for his safety and acted in self-defense. But prosecutors have said he used excessive force against Hill, a naked and unarmed U.S. Air Force veteran with mental health problems. A successful self-defense claim requires evidence that it was reasonable for Olsen to believe Hill was about to kill or gravely injure him or another person. But there was no evidence that Olsen believed Hill was going to kill him, a judge ruled, declining to dismiss the charges. The judge also cited concerns about the former officer’s credibility and conflicting testimony.
https://www.apnews.com/a3bf1a0fa41c4084b28dd1cbe0c43eca