Deputy’s shooting of unarmed Sedalia woman doesn’t add up. Appoint a special prosecutor

Since George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis on May 25, police across the country have been doing a remarkable job of educating the public about why the protests against police brutality and racism remain so necessary.

Here in Missouri, the nothing-adds-up shooting death of Hannah Fizer, a 25-year-old Sedalia woman who didn’t have a gun yet was supposedly yelling that she was going to shoot the sheriff’s deputy who stopped her — permanently stopped her — is another case in point.

Even if trigger-entranced cops hadn’t been all over the news, why would someone who didn’t even have a gun threaten to use one on an armed officer?

Why would someone on her way to work and in a sunny, yoohooing mood when she stopped for gas earlier in the evening turn all felon-on-the-run over the prospect of a traffic ticket?

Why was the sheriff’s deputy who shot her not interviewed right away?

Is his version of events the one investigators for the Missouri State Highway Patrol solely relied on for their preliminary report?

Why was there not only no body cam footage of the stop, but no dash cam, either? This is not new technology, and not expensive — you can get a dash cam for all of $40.

Even if Fizer resisted arrest, why would deadly force ever be necessary against an unarmed 140-pound woman? Her father said she “wouldn’t shoot a frog,” and friends didn’t see her as someone who would ever hurt anyone.

Her loved ones naturally wonder why the deputy couldn’t have used a stun gun instead of the real thing.

And in a town of 21,000, did the shooter and victim know one another?

The official account is that at about 10 p.m. on Saturday, Fizer was en route to the Muddy Creek Eagle Stop convenience store where she worked as an assistant manager when a deputy tried to pull her over for speeding and careless driving.

According to the preliminary report, she kept going, ran a red light and then when she “finally” did stop was “not compliant” and refused to identify herself.

A witness said neither Fizer’s car nor the deputy’s seemed to have been speeding as one followed the other. He told The Star he heard a man shout “stop, stop,” followed by five “pops.”

Then, as he came closer, “I saw him covering her up with a sheet from head to toe.”

What happened to Hannah Fizer will have to be uncovered by an independent investigation.

The local prosecuting attorney in Pettis County, Phillip T. Sawyer, should appoint a special prosecutor to do that, and soon. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office can only investigate at Sawyer’s invitation, and he should call them in.

Unless, of course, he wants to give the public one more reason not to trust law enforcement.