Newly-elected District Attorney Scott Colom’s office has received a petition with more than 1,100 signatures seeking a grand jury investigation into the Oct. 16 police-involved shooting death of Columbus resident Ricky Ball.
Kamal Karriem submitted the petition to the DA’s office Monday morning. Karriem and other organizers started collecting signatures in late October after Ball’s death.
Ball was 26. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is looking into the circumstances around Ball’s death. The incident began when officers Canyon Boykin, Johnny Branch and Yolanda Young attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle Ball was riding in. Ball fled from the vehicle. Officers pursued and authorities say a “scuffle” followed before an officer killed Ball.
None of the officers present activated their body cameras until after the shooting. Authorities say a 9mm handgun was discovered beside Ball after he fell to the ground. Authorities have not said if Ball pointed the weapon at officers during the scuffle.
Colom told The Dispatch on Monday that he wants to allow MBI to complete its investigation before he determines the next step.
“Once they complete it, we’ll have the info necessary to present to the grand jury,” Colom said.
“The grand jury will be able to decide what to do about the charges,” he said. “The grand jurors are not going to have the tools necessary to do their investigation and determine what happened. MBI has those tools and we need to wait for them to finish the investigation. At that point, we can determine the next steps.”
While speaking to press Monday, Karriem referenced a statement Colom made during a Nov. 2 community meeting about Ball’s death. Colom told the crowd that the facts of the case led him to believe a grand jury investigation was warranted.
“The citizens of Lowndes County want to be ensured that they have an adequate representation in the investigation…,” Karriem said, “and certainly holding our current district attorney’s campaign promise to fruition that he would conduct an inquiry after he has waited to see the results of the investigation. With all respect to our district attorney, we appreciate what he has said and what he has told us as a community.”
City leaders have said that the results of MBI’s investigation will be handed over to the DA’s office once the investigation is complete.
Karriem said the petition can still serve as a statement of sorts to Colom.
“We want him to know that his voters want this,” Karriem said. “We want it to be in his hands because we know that he has a very busy schedule coming up…we just wanted his office to have hands on the signatures before we got too far into the session.”
Colom said he might ask Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood to appoint a special prosecutor for the case. He said it may avoid any criticisms of not having an independent prosecutor present the case to grand jurors.
Still, he said, that will be determined once the investigation is finalized.
“Once it’s complete, at that point we can make the decision necessary to move forward,” Colom said. “My main concern right now is to be sure there’s a full and thorough investigation.”
Kamal said former TV Judge Joe Brown advised organizers to use a petition to seek a grand jury investigation.
“A group of citizens followed through with the advice and that’s how we collected the signatures,” Karriem said. “With all respect to all of the office and everyone involved, we’re not trying to trump anybody. We just want to ensure that justice is given in this matter.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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