OFFICER CLEARED IN DRUG-RAID SHOOTING

AKRON - The police officer who fatally shot 32-year-old Eric Tyrone
Clements during an early-morning drug raid in October was cleared yesterday
of any wrongdoing.

Summit County Prosecutor Michael T. Callahan said seven SWAT officers,
including Mitchell A. Hamidi, who fired at Clements, did not violate state
laws governing use of deadly force. The prosecutor's office routinely
reviews cases in which officers use deadly force.

Hamidi, a rookie SWAT member, kicked in Clements' bedroom door Oct. 24 and
was met with gunfire, police said.

Clements, lying across his bed, fired a .38-caliber revolver three times.
Two bullets lodged in Hamidi's bulletproof vest. One struck a metal door
jamb near Hamidi's head, investigators said.

Hamidi fired four two-round machine-gun bursts, hitting Clements in the
head and chest. A girlfriend who also was on the bed was not injured.

Police said they found 4 ounces of crack, marijuana paraphernalia, a trace
of cocaine and $2,860 in the house. They said they raided the house after
undercover officers bought cocaine from Clements on three occasions and an
informant told them they might find a large amount of cocaine that morning.

Clements was on parole after pleading guilty in 1992 to kidnapping and
felonious assault. Possessing drugs and a gun were parole violations,
though Clements had never missed an appointment with his parole officer,
family and friends said after his death. They questioned why police did not
wait three hours to arrest Clements, who was scheduled to meet at 10 a.m.
with his parole officer, where he would have to walk through a metal detector.

"There is not a member of our family that thinks if he was breaking the law
or violating parole he should not have been sent to jail," his aunt
Samantha Gibson said. "But we do take issue with the unnecessary force
used. Eric could have been apprehended when he reported for his parole
appointment, which he never missed. Then his house could have been searched
without putting anyone in jeopardy."

Police said as they raided the house that they broke down the door and
discharged a loud flash grenade to prevent drugs from being burned or
flushed down a toilet.