NEWNAN, Ga. — After a man was shot and killed by a Newnan Police officer early last year, the district attorney has determined the officer's use of force was appropriate.
Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney John Cranford, Jr., released the office's findings Tuesday, deeming that the officer was authorized to use deadly force under the circumstances surrounding the death of 37-year-old
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to step in after Newnan Police Department officers responded to a domestic incident at 25 Second Avenue on Jan. 23, 2022.
Neighbors called 911, reporting Kinney had held a machete to his girlfriend's head, pulled her back into their home and threatened to burn it down, according to a release from the district attorney's office.
This triggered the police department's SWAT team and hostage negotiators, according to the GBI.
Investigators learned Kinney was living with his girlfriend, and witnesses said that day she told neighbors that her boyfriend "had punched her in the head and held a machete to her neck." As law enforcement arrived, Kinney grabbed his partner by her arm and pulled her into the house in front of authorities.
As SWAT and other authorities surrounded the home, they waited an hour and a half to try and make contact with Kinney. Neither he nor his girlfriend answered authorities, according to a release from the district attorney's office.
The Newnan officer who ultimately used deadly force against Kinney was off-duty but is a SWAT team member, investigators said. He was called in to assist with the incident. He did not have a body camera for this reason, and many police-worn cameras had died of battery in the standoff, investigators note.
According to the GBI, when SWAT approached the door, the Newnan officer said they saw a man, Kinney, through a window with a knife and also saw a door open behind him with a woman sitting on the ground. The officer described Kinney to the GBI as being in a "fighting stance," and noted that the woman was in the bathroom when the officer fired numerous times through the window, killing him. The woman was not hurt, nor were the officers.
"The officer told the GBI that he did not believe he had time to order Kinney to drop the knife before Kinney could have gotten to the girlfriend with the knife," the district attorney's office outlines in a news release. "Officers immediately entered the residence and secured Kinney, then the SWAT team paramedic attempted life-saving procedures."
Kinney was declared dead at the home.
What we know about Kinney
The medical examiner's report deemed the cause of death to be via gunshot wounds, with an autopsy showing lung and heart injuries. A toxicology report also revealed Kinney had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system, the DA said.
Back in 2011, 11Alive reported Kinney was arrested for robbing a home on Halloween night, where police said he and another woman broke into a house in Cumming, assaulted the homeowner, tied him up and stole "a considerable amount of cash." The victim managed to free himself and get help from a neighbor.
State records show he was released in Feb. 2019 and had been out on parole after serving time in prison for burglary, robbery and assault in connection with the 2011 crime.
As for the girlfriend, she walked back many of her initial statements to GBI, saying Kinney didn't have a knife, minimizing the abuse she may have experienced from Kinney. However, investigators said her parents told authorities they firmly believed Kinney was physically abusive and often questioned the bruises she had on her face and legs.
The District Attorney's decision
Citing two Georgia statutes, the district attorney said any person can use deadly force to defend themselves or others as long as a person "reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury to himself or herself or a third person or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."
Looking closely at what is deemed a forcible felony in the state, the district attorney said it further supported the officer's actions. It is considered any felony involving the use or threat of physical force or violence against anyone.
"All of the facts and circumstances known to the officer in question show the officer was objectively reasonable in perceiving Mr. Kinney as a threat to use violence against his girlfriend with a knife," the district attorney explained. "Therefore, the officer was justified in using deadly force to prevent the girlfriend from being seriously injured or killed by Kinney."
The office declines to present the matter to a civil or criminal grand jury and considers this case closed.
