CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP EYES POLICE SHOOTING

ATLANTA - An Atlanta-based youth civil rights organization has stepped into
the fray regarding a shooting death of a 28-year-old black man by a Cobb
County police officer last week.

Services were held Monday in Macon for Ervin Bernard Maynard of Marietta,
who was shot to death at his Lincoln Hills apartment on Wednesday while
officers were trying to arrest him for a parole violation.

Police said Maynard was told repeatedly by officers to show his hands and
was shot after he made "threatening and aggressive movements toward
officers in the doorway."

An investigation into the shooting later revealed that Maynard was unarmed.

The Rev. Markel Hutchins, president and CEO of the Atlanta-based National
Youth Connection, said the shooting death of Maynard concerns the organization.

"It is our position that, first of all, this is not a squeaky-clean
situation," he said. "Mr. Maynard had a troubled past. But that does not
mean that trigger-happy police officers have the right to pre-empt any
future he might have had."

Maynard was paroled in November 2001 after serving six months of a
five-year sentence for two counts of possession of cocaine, state records
show. In November, he was arrested for possession of crack-cocaine after
being pulled over for erratic driving on Terrell Mill Road, according to
state records. He posted bond in February, was placed on electronic
monitoring and enrolled in substance abuse classes.

Heather Hedrick, spokesperson for the state board of pardons and paroles,
said the warrant officers were attempting to re-arrest Maynard on Wednesday
for continued substance abuse problems and being out of touch on his
electronic monitoring.

Hutchins said there were more than enough police officers present to
diffuse any danger Maynard might have presented to officers. A total of
seven officers - four Cobb County and three from the state - were on the
scene, according to police.

"They could have shot him in his leg and disarmed him," he said. "They did
not have to shoot him in the chest and destroy him."

But Cobb County police spokesperson Cpl. Brody Staud said this is not how
officers are trained.

"We're not taught to shoot people in the leg," he said. "You're taught to
shoot to center mass because that is the biggest part of the body."

He said that technique is used to avoid hitting innocent bystanders and
because that is the surest way to stop the threat of the individual.

"We're shooting to stop the threat," Staud said. "It's how we're trained.
It's how most all law enforcement officers are trained throughout the
United States."

Hutchins said Maynard's family is scheduled to be at a press conference today.

"We think we have a moral obligation to raise questions and that's what we
intend to do," he said.

Previously, the NYC participated in rallies protesting the shooting death
of 18-year-old Corey Ward in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood. Ward was shot
in July by Atlanta police officer Raymond Bunn, after Bunn tried to arrest
Ward and five of his friends because he thought they were trying to steal
an SUV.

Bunn said he shot Ward in self-defense after Ward tried to run him over,
but Ward's family said Bunn never identified himself as a police officer.

Bunn had a history of complaints of excessive force with the Atlanta police
department, according to news reports. The officer involved in Wednesday's
shooting in Cobb has no history of discliplinary problems with the
department, Staud said.

The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at NYC headquarters in the
West End of Atlanta on York Avenue off Interstate 20.