D.C. Seals Findings In Police Shooting

No Further Details On Death of Boy, 14

The D.C. government said yesterday that it will not disclose additional details of two investigations into the fatal police shooting of 14-year-old DeOnté Rawlings, citing the sensitive nature of information gathered by federal and local authorities during the months-long inquiries.

A seven-month federal probe, which ended in May, found no criminal wrongdoing by the two off-duty D.C. officers involved in the shooting, which occurred a year ago yesterday. An internal police investigation, begun after the federal inquiry, concluded this month that neither officer violated the department's deadly force rules or other policies.

After Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier released a brief summary of her department's investigation Sept. 4, the D.C. attorney general's office said it was considering releasing more details from a report of the internal probe, in keeping with Lanier's promise to be forthcoming about the case. That report includes information from the federal investigation.

But Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), said yesterday that the city, for legal reasons, will not disclose additional details from the report, leaving several questions about the shooting unanswered publicly.

"A lot of information in the report is related to grand jury testimony and to FBI interviews," much of it confidential under federal law, Hobson said. "We are unable to release the report due to the sensitive nature of the information."

An attorney for DeOnté's parents, who have sued the District, said yesterday that D.C. officials have declined to give him a copy of the report despite repeated requests. The lawyer, Gregory Lattimer, said he is legally entitled to much of the information as part of the evidence-sharing process in the lawsuit.

"The problem is, I have to spend time fighting for the truth," Lattimer said, adding that he will ask a judge to order the city to turn over information from the report. "The longer you hold evidence from me," he said, "you diminish our chances of getting at the truth, because witnesses disappear, witnesses' memories fade."

Peter Nickles, the city's acting attorney general, said the report is "suffused and permeated with grand jury material," and that the city would be violating federal law if it made the information public or gave it to Lattimer. The U.S. Attorney's Office agreed with Nickles.

The Sept. 17, 2007, shooting in the 600 block of Atlantic Avenue SE, occurred while Officers James Haskel and Anthony Clay, off duty and out of uniform, were chasing DeOnté because they suspected he had stolen a minibike from Haskel's garage. Investigators concluded that DeOnté fired at least three shots at the officers with a .45-caliber handgun, and that Haskel was justified in shooting back, killing the youth.

However, the summary of the police investigation and a synopsis of the federal probe released in May did not address several questions surrounding the shooting.

The statements did not explain why Haskel and Clay were pursuing DeOnté when on-duty officers already had been alerted to the theft, or why the officers temporarily left the scene after the shooting without securing evidence. Nor did the summaries explain why no gun or shell casings were found near DeOnté's body.

Alleging at a news conference that city officials are making "a concerted effort to withhold the truth about the shooting," Lattimer called the internal police inquiry "a disingenuous sham" and said Lanier was predisposed to clear the officers of wrongdoing.

He read from a department-wide e-mail that the chief sent May 3, two days after federal officials announced that Haskel and Clay had been cleared of any criminal conduct, but before the internal police investigation began.

In the e-mail, informing the department that the federal investigation was finished, Lanier wrote, "I would like to thank all members who have supported, and continue to support, both officers through this trying event and time."

Haskel, a spotter in the helicopter unit, and Clay, who produces training videos at the police academy, had been placed on leave after the shooting. The chief wrote, "You have truly been missed and we look forward to your return soon!"

Lanier did not respond to a request for comment yesterday on why she made those remarks before the department had begun its investigation of the officers' conduct in the shooting.