District Attorney Should Be Punished for Trying to Sabotage Police Shooting Investigation
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Police initially claimed Edson Thenevin died in a car crash
The best example of why local prosecutors cannot be trusted to investigate police shootings of civilians is the conduct of Rensselaer District Attorney Joel Abelove, who recklessly and unlawfully has tried to prevent a fair and thorough investigation into a fatal police shooting of an unarmed civilian. Abelove last month knowingly defied the request of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, made pursuant to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order appointing Schneiderman as special prosecutor, to refrain from investigating the case, and to turn over his files to the attorney general’s investigators. Instead, Abelove rushed the case into a grand jury, apparently gave the police officer immunity, did not call two key civilian witnesses who saw the shooting and disputed the officer’s account, and then got the grand jury to clear the officer. Edson Thevenin, a 37-year-old African-American, was shot to death by Sgt. Randy French in the early hours of April 17 when he was pulled over by French for allegedly driving while intoxicated. The police claim that Thevenin fled in his vehicle, was briefly chased by police cruisers, and after Thevenin’s car allegedly struck French, French shot him eight times through the windshield, striking him four times in the head, and four times in his body. Thevenin was unarmed. French claims he suffered minor leg injuries in the encounter. Thevenin’s wife claims a police detective told her that her husband died in a car accident Schneiderman’s office immediately got involved. They went to the scene, but were rebuffed by the police. Schneiderman the next day informed District Attorney Abelove that his office was reviewing the case, directed Abelove to take no action pending Schneiderman’s review, and sent him a letter requesting the files. Notwithstanding Schneiderman’s explicit and repeated directives and requests, Abelove quickly empaneled a grand jury, apparently called only two police witnesses, and gave the grand jury legal instructions. The grand jury found no basis to indict the officer.
Photo: PAUL BUCKOWSKI
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