Deputy Indicted in Shooting Death (UPDATE)

A Pike County Grand Jury has decided to indict Sheriff Deputy Terry Beadle in the death of Troy Ray Boyd, an incident that happened earlier this year in March.

According to MS NEWS NOW,

The indictment for manslaughter says that 35-year-old Terry Beadles did “willfully, unlawfully, feloniously and unnecessarily” kill Boyd.

Beadles was arrested Wednesday by investigators with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Beadles is free on a $10,000 bond pending his initial court appearance.

Pike County Sheriff Mark Shepherd told us back in March that Beadles responded to calls that 35-year-old Boyd was riding an ATV with a machete strapped to his back, acting erratic.

The sheriff added that when Beadles arrived, Boyd tried to run over him. Beadles shot Boyd, who crashed the ATV and was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

The number of officers indicted for murder, manslaughter or homicide has increased in the past five months. Reporting for The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf wrote:

Over the past five months, at least 14 police officers were indicted for killing while on duty, which is five times the normal rate… Police in America might very well be charged at a higher rate today, noting that over a seven-year period ending in 2011, an average of 5.8 officers were charged per year, excluding non-shooting deaths while from May 2005 to April 2015, an average of 5.4 officers were charged per year. Meanwhile, the 14 officers charged over the past five months comes out to an annualized rate of 33.6 charges per year, which is more than five times the normal rate.

It’s important to note that these averages do not account for “non-shooting” deaths by police officers eg. when an officer kills someone with a taser, beaten to death, patrol vehicle etc. It’s also important to note that an indictment does not mean a conviction. But if Beadles is convicted of the charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

And while this is, indicting officers at five time the rate, is all fine and dandy. Let’s not forget that those who killed Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Ryan Bolinger (to name a few) were never charged and/or deemed justifiable. The rate would probably be 10 times higher if police were actually investigated by someone other than their own.