October 13, 2011 - 11:41am
FBI may investigate 2010 police shooting that killed Brunswick woman
The fatal shooting of a Brunswick woman by two veteran Glynn County police officers last year has attracted the attention of federal law enforcement authorities.
Sgt. Corey Sasser and Officer Todd Simpson fired eight .45-caliber bullets at Caroline McGehee Small as she tried to maneuver her boxed-in car, its four tires shredded down to the rims, following an erratic low-speed pursuit on June 18, 2010.
Two bullets struck Small, who had cocaine in her system, in the face. Small, 35, died without regaining consciousness one week later at a Savannah hospital. A mother of two young daughters, Small had a history of drug abuse and running from the police.
“It has come to our interest. …The shooting has been brought to our attention,” Lawrence J. Greene, the FBI’s supervisory senior resident agent in Savannah told the Times-Union.
Citing FBI policy, Greene would not confirm nor deny whether it has officially opened an investigation into the shooting. Greene declined comment about when or how the FBI was alerted to the case.
Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia also declined comment. Georgia Bureau of Investigation officials would not comment either.
After the shooting, Sasser and Simpson talked about their marksmanship instead of checking to see if she was alive, according to recordings made by police dashboard video cameras.
Sasser, who had fired six shots, said he’d hit Small “right in the bridge of the nose.”
A witness said Simpson, who fired twice, told him that Small was dead because he had shot her in the head and “her head exploded.”
Those details are among the evidence contained in a 540-page case file the GBI recently released to the Times-Union in response to an open records request.
A Glynn County grand jury, in a 12-6 decision, cleared Sasser and Simpson of any criminal wrongdoing.
Both officers also were cleared by a police internal investigation. They remain with the Glynn police department.
teresa.stepzinski@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4075
Photo gallery: From the scene of the shooting
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-10-13/story/fbi-may-investigate-2010-police-shooting-killed-brunswick-woman#ixzz1b3b17hKg
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