Upstate parents seek federal probe in police shooting death of son

Attorneys for Zachary Hammond’s parents on Tuesday asked federal authorities to investigate the Seneca police-shooting death of their son “because of the substantial violations of his civil rights.”

Attorneys Eric Bland and Ronald Richter said they made a written request to the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI asking them to join the investigation, “with the same intensity and thoroughness as it has demonstrated in other interracial settings.”

Both Hammond and the officer who shot him, Lt. Mark Tiller, were white.

Seneca Police Chief John Covington said he would not comment on the attorneys’ request.

“While we believe in the integrity of (10th Circuit) Solicitor Chrissy Adams, as well as the integrity of (the State Law Enforcement Division) and its officers, the issues that surround the death of Zachary Hammond are issues of national significance,” the attorneys said in a statement. “Given the resources that the federal government has devoted to the investigation of other similar incidents, we will request that the federal government intervene at this time.

“Every death of an unarmed teen, regardless of color, strips a piece of our dignity and humanity as a society,” they said.

The Greenville News