Raymond Bunn Indicted For Murder
The latest challenge for LELDF is the case of Officer Raymond S. Bunn, a
37-year old husband and father of five children who was a seven-year veteran
of the Atlanta Police Department.
About 3 a.m. on July 14, 2002, Officer Bunn and his partner, Officer Terry
Mulkey, were in an unmarked police vehicle patrolling "Buckhead," a tough
nightclub area of Atlanta that routinely experiences burglaries, car thefts,
break-ins, shootings, brawls, and riotous drunken behavior. Suddenly they
heard the breaking of a car window and a vehicle alarm sounding.
Suspecting a vehicle theft, they turned on the blue police flashing lights
on the windshield and rear and exited the cruiser yelling "Police, Police!
Stop!" Both officers were wearing pullover shirts with the words "Atlanta
Police" on the front and back, and chains around their necks that secured
their Atlanta police badges.
A black male (later identified as Jamal Smith) jumped out of the broken
window of a Buick SUV and ran to a Chevy Tahoe, where he got in the back
seat. The officers were about 25 feet in front of the Tahoe and were
approaching it when the driver, Corey Ward, hit the gas and accelerated in
reverse, screeching the tires, and coming to an abrupt stop. As the officers
walked toward the stopped car, Ward suddenly punched the gas pedal and began
speeding straight at the policemen. The officers retreated to the front of
their cruiser, but the Tahoe driver seemed determined to run them down!
Officer Mulkey was able to jump out of the way, but Officer Bunn was trapped
and about to be run down by the Tahoe. Officer Bunn jumped to his right,
firing his service revolver twice at the Tahoe. The Chevy Tahoe hit Officer
Bunn, pinning his leg between the two vehicles and injuring his knee. One of
the shots fired hit Corey Ward, who died of a single bullet wound to his
head.
The investigation of the incident determined that the police officers
believed their lives were in danger. Two of the passengers in the Tahoe said
that they and Corey Ward were fully aware that they were encountering the
police.
A study using the Vetroniz Crash Data Retrieval system that can recover data
from airbags in a severe crash showed that the Tahoe was traveling at 26
miles per hour five seconds before the crash and at 14 miles per hour one
second before it hit Officer Bunn and the police cruiser. The Georgia Bureau
of Investigation determined that Officer Bunn was five feet or less from the
Tahoe when he fired his revolver.
Corey Ward had two ounces of cocaine in his pocket. A large knife and seven
bags of marijuana were discovered in the Tahoe, along with two stolen cell
phones.
Following the incident, Officer Bunn, a former Marine, was called for duty
in Iraq by his National Guard unit and served there for one year, returning
in January 2004. He resigned from the Atlanta P.D. in July 2004, taking a
position with a firm that provides security for the Department of State
personnel in Iraq.
On December 9, 2005, Ray Bunn was indicted by a Fulton County Grand Jury,
charged with murder and felony murder - both capital offenses in Georgia -
plus aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and violation of oath. The
indictment was the result of intense pressure from the black community on
Paul Howard, the District Attorney. No trial date has been set.
LELDF is helping Ray Bunn with legal counsel and legal and expert witness
fees to fight this unjust indictment.
In a new order, Fulton Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk ruled that Bunn fired his weapon in self-defense and was justified in doing so. Newkirk said Bunn "reasonably would have held the perception that the driver of the vehicle would not stop, and that he posed an imminent threat to his life and physical well-being. The only effective means the Defendant had to attempt to stop or pre-empt the danger was his weapon."
When Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne reached Bunn by phone, he asked him his reaction the instant he heard about the order. “Numb,” Bunn said. “I was numb.
Ray Bunn
“The air seems a little fresher, I guess,” Bunn said. “I expected this, certainly hoped for it.”
Asked his reaction should the prosecution appeal, Bunn replied, “It doesn’t matter to me. They can if that’s their legal right.”
He added: “I presume the Ward family was given false and misleading facts of the case and it’s reprehensible that they have to also be forced to go through this grief again. And it was totally unnecessary
Civil rights leader Reverend Markel Hutchins, the family of Corey Ward and the other young African American men that were riding with Corey Ward when the then 18-year-old was killed in July of 2002 by then Atlanta Police Officer Raymond Bunn will address the media about the decision of the Fulton County Superior Court, announced yesterday, to dismiss charges in the murder trial of the embattled former officer that killed Ward in a controversial Buckhead area shooting nearly 8 years ago.
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