Pubdate: Sun, 02 Mar 2008 Source: Blade, The (Toledo, OH) Copyright: 2008 The Blade Contact: http://www.toledoblade.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/48 Author: Bridget Tharp Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) NAACP WANTS POLICE INDICTED FOR FATAL LIMA RAID Officers Asked To Come Forward LIMA, Ohio - The Lima chapter of the NAACP yesterday called for the indictment of all officers involved in the Jan. 4 raid of a biracial woman's home during which she was shot and killed by a city police officer. "If I commit a crime, and five of my friends are with me, I'm getting charged, they're getting charged, bottom line," said Lima's NAACP President Jason Upthegrove. Tarika Wilson, 26, was shot twice, and her 1-year-old son was wounded when the Lima Police Department's SWAT team raided her Third Street home, using a "no-knock" search warrant. Her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, was arrested on drug charges during the raid, but no public explanation has been given describing how Sgt. Joseph Chavalia came to fire his gun. On Friday, state investigators said they had wrapped up their probe of the incident and had presented a special prosecutor with their report and evidence. Mr. Upthegrove said that he hopes that the officers involved will come forward publicly with information about what happened when Ms. Wilson was killed, and that such information ultimately will lead to indictments of those involved. "This is an opportunity for them to show some courage," he said. Sgt. Andy Green of the Lima police said that the department will have no comment regarding the shooting until the investigation is completed and the results made public. Mr. Upthegrove said his organization has been unable to obtain the high-risk search warrant that police used to make the raid. He said that the judge who signed the warrant should not preside over any trial relating to the case. Although it was the NAACP making the request for more information surrounding the shooting, Mr. Upthegrove said yesterday's event was not about race. "This has nothing to do with race. It wouldn't matter to me who she was, it wouldn't matter to me where she came from, who her parents were," he said. "It's a woman gunned down in her home." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom