Former Florida sheriff's deputy denied bond in killing of Black airman

[August 28, 2024]  By Rich McKay
 
(Reuters) - A Florida judge denied bond on Tuesday for a former sheriff's deputy charged in the May shooting death of a Black man serving in the U.S. Air Force, who answered a knock on his apartment door while holding a gun pointed down, according to jail records and media reports.  

Chantemekki Fortson, mother of U.S. Airman Roger Fortson, listens as Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump speaks following the firing of Okaloosa County Sheriff Deputy Eddie Duran during a press conference at Mt. Zion Second Baptist Church, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 3, 2024. Okaloosa County Sheriff Deputy Eddie Duran shot and killed Senior Airman Roger Fortson inside Fortstons home in Florida. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo

Eddie Duran, a former Okaloosa County sheriff's deputy who was fired by the agency after the shooting, was arrested on Monday in the death of Roger Fortson, 23, in Fort Walton Beach, jail records show. The records identified Duran as white.

Prosecutors charged Duran, 38, with one count of manslaughter with a firearm on Friday. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.

In asking the judge to set bail for Duran on Tuesday, his lawyer Rod Smith told the court his client was not a flight risk, ABC News reported. Smith was not immediately available for further comment.

State prosecutors argued that the judge should deny Duran pre-trial release because of a Florida statute that requires defendants charged with a first-degree felony to remain in custody, media reports said.

On the night of Fortson's killing, May 3, someone from his apartment complex called a non-emergency sheriff's department phone line to report that they heard a couple fighting in the airman's apartment, according to a report by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

The Fortson family's attorney, Ben Crump, told reporters that the airman was on a video call with his girlfriend when he heard a knock on his door. He asked, "Who is it?" but did not get a response, Crump said, citing the girlfriend's account.

Fortson then retrieved a gun he owned legally and walked toward the door, Crump said.

Police body-camera footage shows Fortson opened the door while holding his gun pointed down in his right hand and left hand up toward the deputy, according to media accounts.

Fortson was then fatally shot. Police said no one else was in his home at the time.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Frank McGurty and Rod Nickel)

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