Photo via Twitter

Photo via Twitter

On the one-year anniversary of his killing, demonstrators took to the streets on Monday to protest the death of 31-year-old Terrence Sterling and demand that officials reopen the case against D.C. police officer Brian Trainer that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. closed last month.

The group of family, friends, and protesters gathered around 4:20 a.m. at the intersection of Third and M Streets NW, where Trainer fatally shot Sterling on his motorcycle after officers pursued him for 25 blocks. They gathered again on Monday evening to march, sing, chant, and shout a list of demands in front of the D.C. police headquarters.

The shooting sparked weekly protests and changes to the city’s police body-worn camera because Trainer did not turn on his camera until after the shooting on September 11, 2016. Sixteen days later, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office released footage from the aftermath that showed Sterling laying on the ground in a pool of blood. But the lack of adequate footage led to conflicting accounts of what happened before the shooting took place.

The group of protesters demanded on Monday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mayor Bowser, Attorney General Karl Racine, and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham release any additional surveillance camera footage related the incident.

They also demanded that U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. immediately reopen the case after announcing in August that federal prosecutors “found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer willfully used unreasonable force and/or was not acting in self-defense when he discharged his service weapon at Mr. Sterling.”

The group also wants the District to establish a citizen review board to oversee MPD activities with subpoena power and authority to handle complaints and conduct independent investigations. They additionally demanded that the D.C. government fully implements the “Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Amendment Act of 2016,” or the “NEAR” Act, for crime prevention and intervention.

MPD and Mayor Bowser have called on Trainer, a four-year veteran of the force, to resign although he has yet to do so, according to multiple news outlets. The protesters demanded that Trainer be “immediately fired” without pension or severance.

“It’s a heartbreaking feeling,” Steven Douglass, one of Sterling’s close friends, told WUSA 9. “But, we’re still thankful, we’re still rejoicing and celebrating that his life is a legacy now that we will continue to fight for.”

“We’re hoping that accountability raises its head and justice becomes woke, the sleeping giant wakes up, and it stops being the elephant in the room that’s just talked about and we start seeing some action behind it,” Douglass said.

Filed Under: mpd, police, protest, sterling, terrence sterling,