By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT — A Detroit police officer charged in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl says he unintentionally pulled the trigger during a struggle with the victim’s grandmother.
Joseph Weekley told jurors Thursday he didn’t immediately realize he had shot Aiyana Stanley-Jones during the 2010 house raid. Weekley is charged with involuntary manslaughter.
He says he didn’t know Aiyana was asleep on the couch and that he saw only laundry and blankets during the search for a murder suspect.
He says he feels “devastated and depressed” by what happened.
Weekley says Aiyana’s grandmother, Mertilla Jones, grabbed his gun — a claim she denied in earlier testimony. On cross-examination, Weekley conceded that it would be his fault if he failed to use “ordinary care” resulting in injury to another.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press