WILMINGTON — The officer who shot a 30-year-old man in Downtown Wilmington in September has returned to full duty after being placed on desk duty during an investigation into the incident by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
“We are in receipt of a November 22, 2017 letter from the North Carolina Conference of District Attorney’s outlining their findings in the officer-involved shooting involving Officer Adam Phillips and Raymond McGriff. Due to pending litigation against Mr. McGriff we have taken the liberty to explain our process and summarize the findings of that letter below,” according to a statement released by WPD Police Chief Ralph Evangelous and District Attorney Ben David.
Officer Adam Phillips was involved in the shooting on September 7, 2017 that wounded Raymond McGriffn; the shooting took place near Chop’s Deli on Front Street in downtown Wilmington.
“Whenever there is an officer-involved shooting in the Fifth Prosecutorial District it is protocol for the District Attorney and the head of the involved agency to jointly call upon the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI) to investigate the actions of the officer. We took the added step in this case of requesting the North Carolina Conference of District Attorney’s to review the investigative file to determine whether or not charges should be filed against Officer Phillips,” according to the press release.
“Pursuant to North Carolina law, an officer in the performance of his lawful duties has the right to use force to effect an arrest or prevent an escape and to use deadly force to protect himself or others from what ‘he reasonably believes is the use or imminent use of deadly force’ by a suspect,” according to the statement.
Interviews with McGriff, Phillips, and multiple witnesses as well as video recordings have been conducted and reviewed by a senior prosecutor with the Conference of District Attorneys.
“After this thorough review, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorney’s
determined that Officer Phillips was justified under North Carolina law and used
reasonable force …” according to the statement.
McGriff has been charged with resisting a public officer, assault on a government official, and going armed to the terror of the public.
The statement cites rules of professional conduct as the reason for vagueness and the lack of details released about the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident.
“We will provide a full copy of the letter from the Conference of District Attorneys following the resolution of the criminal charges involving Mr. McGriff. We will also notify the media when these charges are resolved in a courtroom,” the statement concludes.
