Statement from the attorneys representing the family of Casey Goodson Jr. regarding Jason Meade
DECEMBER 10, 2020 (Columbus, OH) – Despite what Jason Meade now claims were the circumstances surrounding this shooting, the public should not forget that neither the City of Columbus nor any other investigatory agency has alleged that Casey Goodson pointed a gun before Meade pulled the trigger. With Meade’s statement issued nearly one full week after he killed Casey, it is critical to note that this is a classic defense often claimed by police after they shoot and kill someone. It is also critical to remember that often the evidence does not support these claims.
Meade’s statement is already clearly not aligned with early statements concerning the events leading to Casey’s death: immediately after the shooting, U.S. Marshall Peter Tobin stated that a man was "seen driving down the street waving a gun, and that's when the deputy, at some point after that, he confronted him and it went badly." The Columbus Division of Police later published a fact sheet stating that “a man was witnessed with a gun.”
Casey was shot and killed by Meade while walking into his own home. His bag of Subway sandwiches and his face mask were on the kitchen floor. His keys were in the door. Casey Goodson’s death is tragic, and in his passing, he joins so many people who have died as a result of the inextricable links between our society’s criminalization of Blackness and police brutality. We continue to demand a thorough and transparent investigation. We demand justice for Casey.