US officers will not face charges in shooting of Bijan Ghaisar

US federal prosecutors have decided to close the case of the fatal shooting of unarmed motorist Bijan Ghaisar by two Park Police officers with no charges being filed.  

In a statement issued by US Attorney for the District, Jessie K. Liu, officials said they have concluded that evidence is lacking to prove the officers “willfully” took Ghaisar’s life.

"Based on the information available at this time, the Department cannot prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the two USPP officers committed willful violations of the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute when they shot Mr. Ghaisar," the statement said.

The office said it conducted an extensive investigation before deciding not to press charges.

Ghaisar's family said in a statement that the department escaped accountability.

"Today's decision was a cowardly act by a Department of Justice that is afraid to hold law enforcement, especially federal law enforcement, accountable when it commits murder," the statement said. "The Justice Department has given us no answers to why Bijan was killed. Instead, they have broken every promise made to us -- from keeping us informed about the investigation to personally sharing the results before broadcasting it to the world to, most importantly, protecting Bijan."

Ghaisar, 25, was shot repeatedly in the head by two USPP officers Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard after his vehicle was rear-ended in a minor fender bender in the Northern Virginia suburbs.

Video released by Fairfax County police shows Ghaisar briefly stopped twice and then drove away each time as the officers ran toward him with guns drawn.

After a third stop, Ghaisar again pulled away as Vinyard and Amaya aimed their guns at him, the video shows, and the officers fired nine times into Ghaisar’s Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Ghaisar’s family has said he was struck in the head four times.

Ghaisar, who was unarmed, was taken to hospital, where he spent 10 days in a coma before dying on November 27, 2017.

Amaya and Vinyard were identified almost a year and a half after the shooting took place.

The Ghaisar family pressed the US Park Police and the FBI for months to get answers about the incident and the officers involved. According to their amended complaint, the family learned the identities after it issued a subpoena to the Fairfax County Police Department, whose officers were at the scene of the shooting assisting the US Park Police.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who had helped the family push for answers and sponsored legislation requiring federal police to use cameras, said “this is not justice.”

“The Justice Department failed our community for two years by withholding answers about why police killed Bijan Ghaisar, but this final failure is the worst of all.” He said “all available evidence, including video of the event, contradicts” Liu’s conclusion that no crime occurred.

This comes as law enforcement agencies across the United States are under scrutiny for the killing of black men.

New York City wrestles with surge of violent police clashes

A surge in violent police clashes has left a trail of bodies across New York City.

US police officers fatally shoot hundreds of people every year, with a disproportionate number of those being black.

Public servant punished over her Iranian heritage

Separately, the State Department has forced out a career staffer over her ties to the administration of former US president, Barack Obama, and following reports in conservative media questioning her loyalty to US President, Donald Trump.

Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, a 36-year-old national security specialist fluent in Persian and Arabic who helped craft the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration, was improperly removed from her post in the State Department, despite a career in public service that spanned nearly 13 years. She first entered the federal government in 2005 under President George W. Bush.

US Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook,  removed Nowrouzzadeh in April 2017, three months before her one-year appointment, made under former secretary of state John Kerry, was due to run out.

The White House staff believed Nowrouzzadeh wept when Donald Trump was elected as President of the United States, which raised questions about her loyalty to Trump.

Hook is in a commanding position over the Trump administration’s highly belligerent Iran policy and promotes the White House’s sanctions campaign against the Islamic Republic, which has been criticized by the entire world community, including Washington’s own allies.

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