Marcellis Stinnette; Dante Salinas.Photo: Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office/AP/Shutterstock
A former suburban Chicago police officer who killed a black teen and injured his girlfriend while on patrol was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
A grand jury indicted former Waukegan Police officer Dante Salinas in connection with the October 2020 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Marcellis Stinnette and wounded his girlfriend, Tafara Williams, according to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office.
“My grandson’s blood is crying out from the grave, ‘Grandma, we need justice!’, and we’re finally getting justice,” Stinette’s grandmother, Sherrellis Stinnette, toldCBS Chicago.
On the night of Oct. 20, 2020, Stinnette was a passenger in the vehicle when another officer pulled over Williams who was driving the couple’s car. The officer began asking them questions when Williams took off.
The officer called for backup and Salinas responded.
Tafara Williams.Ed White/AP/Shutterstock
Williams crashed the car and was “in the process of reversing and attempting to leave the area as Officer Salinas exited his squad car,” the state’s attorney’s office said in a statement. “The car did not hit Salinas. While standing next to Ms. Williams' vehicle and clear of its path, Officer Salinas fired several shots into the driver’s side of the vehicle as it continued to reverse past him.”
According to the state’s attorney’s office, six shots were fired.
Rinehard said his office hired a trajectory expert to analyze the “Illinois State Police’s investigation and to fully explain the timeline of the incident, the location of Salinas, and the trajectory of his bullets.”
Marcellis Stinnette.
“Our forensic expert travelled to the area after the Illinois State Police completed their investigation and painstakingly studied the car, the intersection, the video footage, and the bullets themselves,” he said. “His work was even more important because Officer Salinas did not turn on his body camera. We received the final report from our expert in July 2022. We presented that matter to the Grand Jury yesterday.”
Neither Williams nor Marcellis Stinnette had a gun or any other weapon on them at the time, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Salinas was also indicted for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and official misconduct in connection with a 2019 incident where he allegedly tasered, tackled and punched a man, breaking his eye socket, after a verbal exchange.
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Salinas surrendered to authorities Thursday. He has entered a plea of not guilty, according to his lawyer Douglas Zeit.
A court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 15.
Williams was charged with Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding. She has pleaded not guilty.
source: people.com
