WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - A police trial board is recommending the police officer at the center of a controversial DC Police shooting be fired, Mayor Muriel Bowser reported Friday.
DC Officer Brian Trainer shot and killed Terrence Sterling two and a half years ago.
In 2017, the U.S. attorney's office declined to bring charges after Trainer, citing "insufficient evidence."
According to the attorney's office, at approximately 4:20 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2016, Officer Brian Trainer and his partner, who was behind the wheel, were stopped at a light on U Street Northwest. Sterling pulled his motorcycle in front of their cruiser.
Sterling sped through the red light, the office reported.
Officers then chased Sterling through D.C. at high speeds. Witnesses said Sterling was driving his motorcycle at excessive and sometimes dangerous speeds--estimated at 100 mph or more, at times.
Officers say that upon blocking Sterling's vehicle, Sterling rammed his motorcycle into Trainor's door.
Officer Trainer reacted by shooting Sterling twice. The bullets hit the 31-year-old in the right side and neck. The gunfire happened about seven minutes after police first spotted Sterling. Sterling did not have a weapon on him.
Last month, the officer was fighting to keep his job in the department at a trial board hearing after being put on paid leave since the incident.
Trainer's attorney said they will appeal.
