Grand Jury Clears Cop
Returns No Indictment in Shooting
By Jessica Kowal.
STAFF WRITER


A Nassau County grand jury declined yesterday to indict a Nassau police officer who shot and killed a Massapequa man during a drug raid at his home in March. Police said Joseph Ricketts, 26, was shot after he failed to obey a command to be still and reached for what they thought was a gun. Police entered the house on March 30 with a search warrant to arrest Ricketts on conspiracy, drug and weapons charges. Police said they believed Ricketts was reaching for a gun wedged between Ricketts' bed and the wall when Officer Thomas Mazeika shot him once in the head. Family members and friends have disputed the police account of the gun's location and whether Ricketts made any threatening moves. John Gianfortune , an attorney for the Ricketts family, said the family was "miserable" about the grand jury's decision not to indict Mazeika and charged that the District Attorney's office had not fully presented evidence in the shooting. "They put their faith in the system, and the District Attorney's office would not present all the evidence that the family had to give," Gianfortune said. He said Ricketts' brother was questioned as if he were "a guilty party" and said other witnesses believed their testimony was limited by the district attorney. Ed Grilli, a spokesman for the Nassau District Attorney, called the view that evidence hadn't been accurately presented "ridiculous." "It was a fair presentation of the facts," Grilli said. "Every witness he [Gianfortune] provided appeared before the grand jury, and 23 civilians heard that evidence . . . and came to a decision" not to indict the officer. The Nassau Police Department declined to comment because the Ricketts have filed a civil lawsuit against the department, said Capt. Peter Matuza, a police spokesman.

Copyright 1995, Newsday Inc.
Jessica Kowal, Grand Jury Clears Cop Returns No Indictment in Shooting., 10-07-1995, pp A15.