A white police officer who shot an unarmed black man to death in Georgia last year has been indicted on six charges, including felony murder, the New York Times reports.
On March 9, DeKalb County officer Robert Olsen was dispatched to the apartment complex where Anthony Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran, was behaving erratically, jumping from the balcony of his second-story apartment, speaking unintelligibly, and removing his clothes.
Witnesses said Hill was unarmed, and in fact, completely naked, when Olsen, who was carrying a Taser and had been trained in dealing with mentally-ill people, opened fire on Hill and killed him after he did not comply with Olsen’s directions not to approach him.
Hill’s family says he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In a wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Atlanta’s Federal District Court against Olsen and the county, Hill’s family contends that the officer had “a long and extensive history of aggressive conduct” and “propensity toward anger when dealing with members of the public.”
Olsen’s defense lawyer insists that his client’s “reaction to the threat of violent injury was reasonable.”
