As mentioned at the end of Friday’s Savannah City Council story, “Short-Term Rentals for Transient Guests Raise Questions at City Hall,” last Thursday’s Council meeting saw District 1 Alderman and Mayor Pro-Tem, Van Johnson II, conducting the meeting in the absence of Mayor Edna Branch Jackson. Also absent from last Thursday’s meeting was City Manager, Stephanie Cutter and Interim Police Chief, Julie Tolbert.

At the time of the meeting, no details were given as to the reason for the absence of these three key City officials nor their whereabouts, but it would soon be disclosed that the fatal shooting of a suspect by an arresting Savannah-Chatham Metro Police officer on Savannah’s west side, had called the three officials away from City Hall at about 11:30 that morning.

On Thursday morning, Savannah-Chatham metro police were called to the area of Augusta Rd. and Eagle St. in West Savannah, which is part of District 1, served by Alderman and Mayor Pro-Tem Van Johns II.

Mayor Jackson opened Monday afternoon’s meeting with a welcome and an explanation that the meeting, though open to the public, was a special meeting called to update the Council on the status of the investigation and that Council members only, and not members of the public, would be given the opportunity to ask questions, and that there would come a time for public inquiry at a later date when the investigation was complete.

City Manager, Stephanie Cutter, announced that she had received a memo from Interim Police Chief Julie Tolbert, based on the first update provided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent in charge of the investigation, Cyrus Purdiman, assistant special agent in charge of the Statesboro GBI office, of the ongoing investigation into what occurred on the morning of Thursday, September 18, that resulted in the fatal shooting of Mr. Charles Smith by veteran Savannah-Chatham Metro Police officer, David Jannot. With everyone hoping to avert another Ferguson, Mo.-type disaster, Cutter made public the contents of the memo:

 “Officer David Jannot is a 10-year veteran with the Savannah-Chatham Police Department. Deceased, Charles Smith, is a 29-year-old black male who was arrested on September 18, 2014, on seven outstanding warrants, including six traffic violations and one for theft for receiving stolen property. Mr. Smith had an extensive criminal history and was on probation at the time of this incident.

“On September 18, 2014, SCMPD officers executed several warrants of Mr. Charles Smith at the convenience store located at Portman and Augusta Avenue. This arrest was captured on video recording. Mr. Smith was seen being escorted out of the store by officers, in handcuffs behind his back, to a patrol car.

“At some point, Mr. Smith maneuvered the handcuffs from behind his back to in front of his body, and also began kicking out the window of the patrol car. Officer Jannot recognized that Mr. Smith was in possession of a gun, and this encounter resulted in Mr. Smith being shot and killed.

“At my request, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was immediately notified and arrived on the scene shortly thereafter to take control over the crime scene. 

“Recently, a Rap video of Mr. Smith’s lifestyle was released to the public by unknown individuals, but not members of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department. As is City policy, Officer Jennot was taken for drug testing and passed with no illegal substances found in his system.”

Jennot has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the GBI investigation.

After the reading of the memo, Alderwoman Mary Ellen Sprague of District 4, asked about the outcome of the investigation. “Currently, at this time, we’re still running leads and processing evidence. We’re working on it as best we can because of the nature of the case,” said Purdiman. “It’s hard to give you a timeframe, but we will do it as soon as possible.”

District 5 Alderwoman Dr. Estella Shabazz asked about the videotape recording of the arrest mentioned in the memo. “Do Council members get to see the videotape?” asked Shabazz. 

“There is a video of the arrest itself,” said Purdiman. “That video has been turned over to the police chief. Upon her determination, she will release it to Council.” City Manager Stephanie Cutter stated that she has possession of the video which she said she intended to review late Monday. After her review, Cutter said, the video would be made available to Council. Mayor Jackson said Council will call another short special meeting for a collective viewing of the arrest video.

District 3 Alderman, John Hall, asked Purdiman if the arrest video shows the pat-down of the suspect at the time of the arrest. “Yes, it does,” said Purdiman.

Sprague asked if the final report would include the coroner’s autopsy of Charles Smith. Purdiman said it would, and that the final report will be sent directly to the County Prosecutor, Meg Heap’s, office before it is released to the public. There will be no report provided to Council directly by the GBI. Council will receive their copies of the final report from Prosecutor Heap’s office.

Mayor Jackson personally thanked the police department and Interim Chief, Tolbert for “. . . being so swift in getting the GBI in, because, as I said to the community, we cannot investigate ourselves in this type of instance.” The mayor also thanked mayor Pro Tem Johnson for getting out there and reporting to the mayor and Council. As mentioned earlier, the area where the fatal incident occurred was in District 1, Alderman Johnson’s own district. According to the mayor, Johnson has been out there every evening since the incident talking with members of the community and supporting the peaceful nightly protests.

Mayor Jackson said that the GBI, SCMPD and the City would be completely transparent and inform the public of the progress of the investigation every step of the way.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Johnson. “I’ve probably heard over a hundred different versions of what people heard and saw, and hope they saw. It is our responsibility to ensure that the process is open and fair and above board,” he said. “I don’t care how it happened. I just want [the investigation outcome] to be right.”