A second grand jury in Pima County, Arizona, has decided not to recommend manslaughter charges against a former Tucson police officer who shot nine times, killing a suspect who was confined to a wheelchair, in a mall parking lot.
Ryan Remington, 32, shot and killed Richard Lee Richards, 61, in the parking lot of a downtown mall while he was off duty. Richards pulled a knife on a Walmart employee while exiting the store with a stolen toolbox on November 30, 2021.
Richards was on his way to a Lowe’s across the parking lot when Remington, who was working as a security guard for Walmart at the time, ordered Richards to drop the knife and not enter any other store.
The suspect ignored the officer before Remington opened fire, causing Richards to fall out of his scooter.
The Pima County Superior Court jury returned Wednesday with a no-bill vote on the charges against Remington. Despite the grand jury’s decision, the state could still choose to press charges.
Former Tucson Police Officer Ryan Remington, 32, has been charged with manslaughter for the shooting dead of a man in a wheelchair accused of shoplifting outside a Lowe’s in 2021
Richard Lee-Richards has been confined to a wheelchair since having hip surgery in prison, his sister Victoria Richards said last year
Defense attorneys claimed prosecutors presented misleading testimony to the first grand jury. Pima County Superior Court Judge Danelle Liwski concurred, but believed they had not done so on purpose.
Liwski last month granted the defense’s request to remand the case to a grand jury.
In a statement, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said that “notifying the victim is our focus and top priority at this time as the matter is under our review.”
Remington was released in January 2022 for excessive use of force, police found.
A civil rights lawsuit brought by the Richards family against Remington and the city of Tucson remains pending in federal court.
During the theft, Richards allegedly showed a knife to the store clerk who asked for a receipt for the product.
“Here’s your receipt,” Richard reportedly told the clerk and showed him the gun.
“He has a knife in his other hand,” someone can be heard on the bodycam video as Richards drives to the entrance of the large department store.
Seconds later, Remington is seen unloading his gun on the shoplifter.
Remington catches up with Richards in the parking lot and asks him to turn over the knife, which he refuses
Remington (left, with his back turned) said to Richards, “Don’t go into the store, sir,” but began firing when Richards wouldn’t stop
After the shooting, Richards slumped out of his chair, where an unidentified officer on duty handcuffed Richards while Remington and another officer, Stephanie Taylor, went to get medical supplies
During the theft, Richards allegedly showed a knife to the store clerk who asked for a receipt for the product. “Here’s your receipt,” Richard reportedly told the clerk and showed him the gun
Richards has been confined to a wheelchair since his hip surgery in prison. His sister, Victoria Richards, told KGUN. She said her brother battled drug addiction and spent most of his life in prison.
He volunteered to help fight wildfires while serving a sentence and fell off a cliff, hitting his head.
“He came out with severe brain damage. He came to me and I taught him how to drive, how to count money. Everything came back pretty quickly, but it was like having a kid again,” she told the TV news channel in 2021.
She and her brother had an argument and she settled it a few years before the shooting at a Salvation Army center.
Office Ryan Remington (pictured with a gun) was fired from the Tucson Police Department (TPD) in January 2022 for using excessive force
Richards (left, in a wheelchair) was shot “in the back and side” and his family has filed a lawsuit against Remington
Rick Resch, an attorney for the Richards family, said in August they were relieved the officer was finally on trial.
“It has been a long and difficult past nine months for Mr. Richards’ family, but they are relieved that former Officer Ryan Remington has been charged and faces the prospect of justice for the shooting and murder of Mr. Richards,” said Get an explanation.
In Arizona, manslaughter, a Class 2 felony punishable by a minimum of seven years in prison, is defined as “recklessly causing the death of another person.”
Remington did not testify before the grand jury to advance any arguments in self-defense.
“Manslaughter doesn’t even fit,” Remington’s attorney, Mike Storie, told KVOA. “I don’t want to get involved in legal arguments, but it’s legal fiction. So I’m very interested in reading the grand jury transcript and finding out what was going on in that room when I wasn’t there.’
Storie has said in the past that his client “didn’t have any non-lethal options.”
“He had a stun gun, but in his opinion he couldn’t use it because he didn’t feel he had the right dispersion to use it, with the wheelchair between him and Richards,” the attorney said.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero praised the indictment against the former police officer in August.
“Now that the grand jury has found an indictment and Ryan Remington faces criminal charges, it’s up to the courts to decide,” she tweeted.
After an internal investigation following the shooting, Remington, a four-year veteran of the department, was canned by then-Police Chief Chris Magnus.
The boss said he was “deeply disturbed and concerned” by the ex-cop’s reaction. “His use of deadly force in this incident is a clear violation of department policy and directly contradicts several aspects of our use of force and training,” Magnus said.