MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The Mobile City Council has formally requested that Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood’s office speed up the release of evidence in Jawan Dallas’ death.
The city council held its weekly meeting on Tuesday, during which members unanimously expressed their urge to release the case’s evidence for “public interest.”
Mobile Police officers tased Dallas on July 2. He was taken to a local hospital for what police called “a medical emergency,” and later he was pronounced dead.
Officers involved in the tasing were placed on administrative leave; however, they were allowed back to work on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
An internal investigation, according to Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine, showed that officers involved in the death of Jawan Dallas do not pose a threat to everyday society.
“In the case with Mr. Dallas, those officers are not a threat to the community based on the facts, and irrespective to emotion, and they are back in the field, and they are working, and they are being productive,” Prine said in Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The autopsy report, toxicology report, cause of death and body camera footage have been sent to the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office and will be presented before a Mobile County grand jury.
A copy of the city council’s letter appears below:
Dear District Attorney Blackwood,
We, the Mobile City Council, based on the mandate unanimously expressed by us at our October 24, 2023, meeting, write to urge you to expedite the presentation to and conclusion of proceedings in front of the Mobile County Grand Jury regarding the July 2, 2023, death of Jawan Dallas. This has become a matter of public concern and we believe the swiftest possible conclusion is in the public interest.
Transparency is a fundamental commitment of the City of Mobile and this Council, and we want the Dallas family and the public to have the opportunity to review the evidence as soon as they possibly can. This decision is out of our hands, and we understand the evidence bound over to the Grand Jury cannot legally be disclosed until the Grand Jury process is finished. We ask that you do all in your power to conclude that process as quickly as consistent with the proper administration of justice.
We also ask that you use the discretion granted to you by section 12-16-221 of the Alabama Code of 1975 to immediately inform us and the citizens of Mobile of the status of these proceedings in front of the Grand Jury, including the date, time, and place that this case will be or was presented to the Grand Jury, whether it was continued and to what date, and whether and when a no bill or an indictment is returned thereon
This has become a matter of great public concern and interest. While we cannot, have not, and will not interfere with the investigation, it is also our understanding based on information provided to us by the City of Mobile Administration that all investigative materials and reports have been completed and fully submitted to your office.
We extend our condolences to the Dallas family during all of this and simply ask again that the matter be concluded as soon as reasonably possible so that the objective facts of this case may then be shared with the Dallas family and the public, and that you otherwise keep us advised as far as you are able of the status of proceedings before the Grand Jury.
Sincerely,
Mobile City Council
PREVIOUS REPORTING:
Family of a man tased to death claim Mobile Police had the wrong man
Eyewitnesses and Mobile Police contradict each other in Jawan Dallas’s death
Mobile put on notice of future lawsuit for the death of Jawan Dallas
High-profile civil rights attorneys pick up the case of Jawan Dallas’ death
Mobile police officers involved in Jawan Dallas’ death released back into the field
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