No Charges in Accidental Killing
Salvatore Culosi Jr. was unarmed when he was killed by a Fairfax County police officer.
by Brian McNeill
March 30, 2006
Photo by Brian McNeill/The Connection
Anita Culosi, the victim's mother, said it's "pathetic" that the police officer who killed her unarmed son will not be charged.
With red-rimmed eyes and her voice cracking, Anita Culosi expressed outrage Thursday evening that a Fairfax County police officer will not be charged with a crime for accidentally killing her 37-year-old son.
"My son is lying in a cemetery," she said, surrounded by family members holding framed pictures of her son. "That man pulled a trigger and shot my son dead. I just can't handle that. It's just pathetic that they don't find something wrong with what they did to my boy."
Anita Culosi's son, Salvatore J. "Sal" Culosi Jr., was accidentally shot to death by a Fairfax County SWAT team officer on Jan. 24 outside his Fair Oaks townhouse. He had been under investigation for illegal sports gambling for the previous three months, accepting at least $28,000 in bets from an undercover Fairfax County detective.
Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Horan announced earlier Thursday that the officer, Deval Bullock, will not face any criminal charges in connection with the killing.
"The test is, is there sufficient evidence there so I can stand before a jury of 12 and ask for a conviction based on the evidence," Horan said. "In this case, the evidence is just not there."
Horan said that because the SWAT team officer did not act with malice and did not intentionally fire, no crime had been committed.
Horan expressed his sympathy for both the Culosi family and Bullock, a highly trained 17-year veteran of the Fairfax County police force.
"I feel for the family and I feel for the officer," said Horan, who has served as Fairfax County's top prosecutor for the past four decades.
AT THE TIME of the shooting, Salvatore Culosi Jr., an optometrist, was unarmed and speaking with the undercover detective about the Pittsburgh Steelers' participation in the upcoming Super Bowl.
After Culosi handed the undercover detective $1,500 in gambling winnings, Bullock zoomed in from behind in a car. As the SWAT team officer jumped out of his vehicle, he pulled out his 45-caliber Heckler & Koch semi-automatic handgun.
As the SWAT team officer raised the gun, it fired, striking Culosi in the left side of his chest. The bullet cut through the inside of his body, fatally eviscerating his liver.
"It happened just like that," said Horan, snapping his fingers. "He said, 'Police!' and after he said "police," it went ‘pow.’"
Bullock yelled out, "Are you hit? Are you hurt?" At first, Horan said, the officer did not realize he was the shooter.
According to Horan, Bullock has no recollection of pulling the trigger. An examination of the pistol determined it was working properly, Horan said.
Police officers are trained to keep their finger off the trigger until they are prepared to fire on a suspect. In this case, Horan said, Bullock believed his finger was not on the trigger.
"He thought his finger was straight," Horan said. "He has no explanation for how it happened."
SWAT team officers frequently assist during pre-planned arrests in Fairfax County, as they have the most extensive training in dealing with hostile and potentially dangerous suspects.
"You have no idea. No police has any idea how a potential arrestee is going to respond," Horan said. "You have to assume everyone is hostile and carrying a weapon. I believe this was an accident."
One factor that may have contributed to the accidental shooting was fatigue. Bullock had been on duty since 4 a.m., overseeing an early morning deer hunt in Great Falls. When Culosi was shot that night, the officer had been awake for nearly 17 hours.
BULLOCK has been assigned to a desk while an internal investigation into the incident proceeds, said Mary Ann Jennings, the police department's spokeswoman.
"He's on restricted duty — administrative duty," she said.
It is not clear if the results of the ongoing internal investigation will be made public.
The Culosi family is planning to file a civil lawsuit against the Fairfax County Police Department, said their attorney Bernard DiMuro, of the Alexandria law firm DiMuro Ginsberg.
"Excessive force and gross negligence are the standards by which civil liability is judged," DiMuro said. "We fully intend to pursue this."
DiMuro said the Culosi family believes it is wrong for the case to be settled solely by an internal investigation. He said Police Chief David Rohrer, who has served for years with Bullock, might be biased toward protecting the officer.
"There's no doubt in our mind that if the shooter had not been a police officer, he would be facing criminal charges," DiMuro said.
In light of the perceived conflict of interest, the Culosi family on Friday asked the FBI to step in and investigate the shooting.
"As grieving parents, we are heartbroken by the loss of our son," the victim's parents wrote in a letter to the FBI's Washington, D.C. field office and to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. "Added to that grief, however, is our belief there will not be a full and impartial review of the shooting.
Had Horan decided to pursue criminal charges, the officer could have faced charges of murder or manslaughter.
Other recent cases of accidental deaths in Virginia have resulted in felony manslaughter charges.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, a 19-year-old Prince William County man was charged with involuntary manslaughter after the stolen gun he was showing off to an 18-year-old friend accidentally discharged and killed the friend.
In March 2005, a Spotsylvania County woman was charged with involuntary manslaughter after her three pit bill dogs got loose and killed her elderly neighbor.
THE CULOSI FAMILY set up a Web site last week about their son's case, located at
www.justiceforsal.com.
The victim's father, Salvatore Culosi Sr., said he hopes to shed light on the police department's tactic of routinely deploying SWAT teams to execute search warrants and arresting non-violent and cooperate suspects.
"Their policy is to use SWAT teams to execute search warrants? That's just absurd," he said.
In a letter to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the Culosi family asked the county for a full accounting of the investigation and to review the police department's policies regarding SWAT teams and the use of deadly force.
The Board of Supervisors questioned Police Chief Rohrer on Monday during closed session about the case's internal investigations.
Supervisor Penny Gross (D-Mason), who said she was "disappointed" about Horan's decision not to prosecute Bullock, said more information about the internal investigation must come to light.
"We need to be able to respond to Mr. and Mrs. Culosi about the death of their son," Gross said.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=63663&paper=0&cat=109
There's no doubt in our mind that if the shooter had not been a police officer, he would be facing criminal charges," DiMuro said.
That says it all. Hey, at least he is honest about how the game of MORE EQUAL ANIMALS is played.
