The video recording of the last moments of Joey Carl's life, shot through the windshield of the squad car the young man from West Duluth was attacking last month with a baseball bat, is as chilling and as sad as it is violent.
And it proved unmistakable in the mind of Scott County, Minn., Attorney Pat Ciliberto, who reviewed the videotape and other evidence from the fateful night when Carl was shot to death by Duluth police Officer Jeffrey Keast. The two-year veteran of the police force fired once from behind the wheel after Carl kept coming, finally smashing the squad's driver's-side window. Ciliberto ruled Keast's actions were justified; the officer is expected to return to patrol duties today.
We wish Keast a long, fulfilling and, most importantly, safe career, just as we wish for all the men and women who maintain law and order and who put themselves in harm's way to protect the rest of us and our community. And we continue to offer our condolences to Carl's family and loved ones.
But anyone who thinks that's that, end of story, can think again. The reality is that a young man from our community is tragically dead. And a police officer will never be the same. For those left, this story will never be over.
For the rest of us, while we can be assured an officer sworn to protect and to serve didn't overstep his authority, and while the blood stains can be removed from the street outside the home where Carl grew up, we can never completely wipe away the innocence-robbing smudge of sadness this moment leaves on our community.
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There is no closure this time. Can't be. No matter how any county attorney or other independent reviewer would have ruled.
