State Attorney Bill Cervone released a partial judgment Friday stating the University Police officers who shot a Ghanaian graduate student in his on-campus apartment will not face any legal action.
Cervone based his judgment on the completed Florida Department of Law Enforcement internal investigation.
The judgment gives UF the ability to complete its own internal affairs investigation, which is being independently reviewed by Margolis Healy & Associates, a campus safety organization, according to a statement released Friday by university spokeswoman Janine Sikes.
Cervone has yet to announce judgment on the student, 35-year-old Kofi Adu-Brempong, who currently faces charges of one count of second-degree aggravated assault and one count of third-degree resisting arrest with violence.
In his statement, Cervone acknowledged UPD's right to enter the residence, as the officers had a legitimate reason to believe Adu-Brempong might have hurt himself inside.
"Had that action not been taken and had he or others come to harm because of inaction," he said, "...an equal or stronger issue as to the propriety of police inaction would doubtless have been raised."
Cervone added that it is not his place to review crisis procedure, just the legality of the action. He said questions of policy were best left to community discussion.
He also found no reason to charge the officers for their use of force, citing that "No one else, civilian or otherwise, was in a position to hear anything directly relevant to those events other than Adu-Brempong," adding that the student's credibility was tarnished by his apparent unstable mental health.
Under Florida law, anyone has the right to use deadly force against someone who appears threatening. Cervone reasoned the police reports were concurrent with that law.
Cervone ended his statement with a call to put the issue to rest.
"I would like to assure those who are concerned about the time required for this process to be completed," he said, "that all involved, including Adu-Brempong's defense team, have been in frequent and productive contact."
Cervone said more information will be released as his decisions are reached. In the mean time, he said, community interaction should be continued within the proper public forum.
"[A]ll involved should be cognizant of the dangers of drawing conclusions before facts are established," he said.
