Officer: Rawlings case ‘as close to hell as possible’

The seven-month investigation has wrung them out, leaving them mentally and spiritually exhausted, they said in an exclusive interview.

And, still facing internal police discipline, they’re not sure what will happen next.

“It’s been as close to hell as possible,” Haskel said. “I grew up in that neighborhood. I feel betrayed.”

 The officer said it was hard to read some newspaper accounts of the shooting and then to realize the accounts referred to him. “If it wasn’t me, I would’ve felt that the officer was a monster,” he said.

Haskel and Clay were off duty on Sept. 17 and looking for a minibike that had been stolen from Haskel’s home. They saw DeOnte, 14, sitting on the bike near the Condon Terrace apartment complex. The events that followed will dog their reputations for the rest of their lives, they said Thursday. For many neighbors, the two officers were the symbol of a hair-trigger police department eager to bully the people they are supposed to protect.

Haskel said a neighbor approached his brother and threatened, “You’re a dead man.”

The worst part, both officers said, was watching Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier lead news conferences without saying a word in the officers’ defense.

Lanier called the officers once, they said. Fenty left a message, but it was muffled by the din in the background and they still don’t know what the mayor said, Haskel said.

“I don’t feel vindicated. I was vindicated from day one because I was on the scene and I knew what happened,” Clay said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I feel like the mayor owes me an apology.”

Fenty issued a terse statement Thursday referring to the prosecutors’ decision not to file charges as “their opinion.”

Lanier issued a statement that simply said, “The officers have been informed of the results of the investigation and the administrative process has been started.”

bmyers@dcexaminer.com