ACLU of Rhode Island executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to the grand jury finding that police officers and State troopers acted lawfully in the fatal shooting of Joseph Santos last November:
“While the grand jury’s decision is not surprising, it would be wrong to consider this the end of the matter. Even if the fatal shooting of Mr Santos was legally justified, many questions and concerns remain. “Providence police and State troopers put the public at great risk by engaging in an unnecessarily dangerous high-speed chase, and then opening fire on a busy highway after Santos’ vehicle was largely immobilized. “As our preliminary analysis of this shooting highlighted over two months ago, this tragic incident calls for a serious examination by these agencies of their practices and protocols. We are hopeful that they will soon apprise the public of actions they have taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.”