Auburn Police Division Chief Paul Register informed the City Council tonight about a Grand Jury in Macon County that will be convened to determine possible charges against the Auburn police officers involved in the shooting death of Melissa Boarts in April.
"[Alabama State Bureau of Investigation officers] have completed their investigation, to my understanding," Register said Tuesday night at the meeting. "They have submitted a case file to the Macon County Grand Jury. This case is to be presented to the Macon County Grand Jury within the next couple of weeks. Our position is that we will respect the findings of that grand jury and will preserve any final decisions about our internal inquiry until we hear that information."
Melissa, 36, was shot and killed April 3 by Auburn police officers after the division said she charged officers with a weapon. Police responded to a report of a suicidal motorist on Interstate 85 that afternoon. After following her until she pulled off on a rural Macon County road, police said they were forced to shoot her when she got out of the car and charged officers.
Terry Boarts, Melissa's mother, said she told police Melissa had the knife and that she suffered from mental illness.
Register said he met with the family the night of the shooting.
"I've learned afterward that this family is a family that has dealt with a lot," Register said. "Even before this date, this is a family that has been through more than what most families should have to. ... I told them what had happened, generally what had happened. I told them that we would talk more later, in detail, when we had had time to understand all that had happened to explain how and why."
Since the shooting in April, the Boarts family — Melissa's mother Terry, her father Michael Boarts and her sister Melinda Boarts, among others — has led several protests against the Auburn Police Division and city government. The Boarts family has also threatened to sue, according to city officials, after hiring Montgomery civil rights attorney Julian McPhillips.
"This is a tragic event, and this is an awful event," Register said. "It is horrible to have to talk about these things. One thing I had hoped to do is speak with this family later and offer them some more information about what and how it happened. It was very unfortunate and it was very disappointing when soon after that, their attorney held a press conference and started making accusations and ultimatums about the actions of this police division without again meeting with us to have any of that information."
Her family immediately began asking the division to release any footage of her death. More recently, an online petition asking for the release of body- and dash-camera footage begun by the family reached more than 68,000 signatures by the time of the publication of this article.
Auburn Police Division officials previously said the shooting was justified because Melissa exited her car and charged officers "in a threatening manner" when the police opened fire. She died at the scene. Tonight, Register said he would wait until the grand jury returns a decision before making a final decision on the internal investigation.
“They knew when they rolled up on her exactly what the situation was,” Michael told The Plainsman. “We told them what her mental state was. We told them the weapon she had. She had a pocket knife. They still haven’t said outright that it was a knife that she had. They keep saying a weapon. For a lot of people, (a weapon) is a gun.”
Melissa’s death was the first time the APD has used deadly force in nearly 40 years, according to the APD.
Tonight, Register told the Council his department launched both an internal investigation of the incident and immediately called the State Bureau of Investigation so they could handle the case impartially.
"When I arrived at that location, I immediately contacted the State Bureau of Investigation," Register said. "To be very clear about it, they are the investigative agency that is handling this case. The Auburn Police Division has not the authority to criminally investigate this case. It is their case and their information. We spoke with them. They came. They interviewed all of our people involved. They handled the crime scene. ... Knowing that it did not need to be local authorities that investigated it, we called the state in."
According to Register, the grand jury could be convened within the month. All prosecution would be left to the Macon County District Attorney.
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