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Court rules officer’s fatal shooting of Black man justified

Yoshanta Albert-Davis, wife of Marc Davis, who was shot and killed by a Petal, Miss., police officer in 2017, displays photographs of her young daughter Leah Davis, then 2, standing next to her father's coffin, during a protest Friday, June 5, 2020, in Jackson, Miss., over Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch's recent decision to drop a manslaughter charge against former Columbus Police Officer Canyon Boykin. Boykin, who is white, had been charged in the October 2015 shooting death of an African American man, Ricky Ball. Davis called for justice for both her husband and children's father and Ball. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation looked into the Davis shooting and determined the police officer acted appropriately. Davis was shot three times. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

PETAL, Miss. (AP) — An appeals court has upheld a ruling that a Mississippi police officer was justified when he fatally shot a Black Louisiana man, who called police after a car crash.

A judge ruled in September that Petal police officer Aaron Jernigan was protecting himself when he fatally shot Marc Davis of LaPlace, Louisiana, in 2017.

On Monday, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the judge’s ruling.

Davis was fatally shot on June 2, 2017 after an altercation between him and Jernigan. The officer said Davis physically assaulted him and attempted to take his gun.

Davis’ estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit, but the lawsuit was thrown out.