Protesters demand prosecution of cop

By Jim Holland, Journal Staff Writer | Friday, March 21, 2003

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RAPID CITY — About 150 participants in a Thursday march and protest in Rapid City called for prosecution of a Rapid City police officer involved in the March 9 shooting death of Lucas Ghost Bear, and they promised another gathering in two weeks.

"We want answers, and we aren't going to stop," Stacey Scares Hawk of Rapid City said.

Scares Hawk said she organized the march with the permission of Ghost Bear's family and to dispute a report clearing the officer involved in Ghost Bear's death.

The report, released March 14 by South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long, followed an investigation by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.

The four-page preliminary report cleared Senior Officer Marc Black of any wrongdoing and called the officer's actions appropriate in dealing with Ghost Bear, 21, who had called police twice, then repeatedly advanced on the officer, threatening Black and others with a knife.

The report said Black tried to talk Ghost Bear into dropping the knife and also used pepper spray in an unsuccessful attempt to subdue him.

The report also said Ghost Bear continued to advance on Black and broke a window on Black's patrol car.

According to the report, Ghost Bear was shot after he jumped onto a porch and began pounding on the door of an apartment, then lunged at the officer, who fired from a range of eight to 10 feet.

Scares Hawk claimed Ghost Bear had backed away from the officer after Black used the pepper spray, then jumped off the porch in an attempt to escape when he was shot.

Scares Hawk also accused the officer of continuing to fire after Ghost Bear began to fall.

The attorney general's report cited witnesses who said Ghost Bear had been making suicidal statements and threats in recent weeks and had also begun drinking alcohol. The report said Ghost Bear had a blood-alcohol level of .22 percent, nearly three times the legal limit to drive, at the time of the shooting.

"We especially dispute the statement by the media that he was suicidal, as it made him sound like he had a death wish," Scares Hawk said.

She said marchers also demanded independent investigations of the still-unsolved deaths of eight people along Rapid Creek four years ago, as well as what she called "other allegations of police misconduct and brutality."

"We are tired of our Lakota people being brutalized, intimidated, harassed and even killed by members of the Rapid City Police Department," she said. "We believe a pattern and practice has been occurring of (police) treatment of the indigenous Lakota people," she said. "We've had enough, and (we) want justice for our people.

"We won't give up until there is justice for Lucas and others."

Carrying placards saying, "Innocent man killed. Trigger happy cops. I'm Lakota. Shoot me 3 times, and Justice for Lukey Bear," marchers gathered at Mother Butler Center in north Rapid City, then walked east to the site of the shooting at Knollwood Apartments for prayers, then proceeded to

police headquarters, the Public Safety Building on Kansas City Street.

Capt. Bill Armstrong of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, which provided escort for the marchers, said the three-hour march and rally went off without incident.

American Indian Movement co-founder Russell Means had been invited to attend, but he was stranded in Salt Lake City, according to his daughter, Michelle Thunder Hawk

Thunder Hawk said her father's commercial flight to Rapid City on Wednesday was canceled "for no reason."

She said Means wanted to demand the termination and prosecution of Black, whom she accused of shooting Ghost Bear in cold blood.

"When an officer calls for backup, he waits. That's the procedure," she said. "He could have waited, but he didn't," she said.

Rapid City Police Chief Craig Tieszen said in an interview after the march and rally that the department agreed with the report's findings.

He said Black returned to duty after a required three-day administrative leave.

"The investigation speaks for itself," Tieszen said. "The officer was protecting himself and the community, including the Native American community."

"We continue to work with (Ghost Bear's) family to provide answers," he said.

Contact Jim Holland at 394-8415 or jim.holland@rapidcityjournal.com