Former Florida Deputy Who Shot Airman Charged With Manslaughter

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field. Credit: U.S. Air Force

OKALOOSA COUNTY, Florida - Former Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputy Eddie Lee Duran, Jr., who shot and killed Airman Roger Fortson on May 3, has been charged with manslaughter, Florida State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden announced on Friday.

A warrant for Duran’s arrest is outstanding at this time. If convicted as charged, Duran faces a maximum sentence of thirty years in state prison.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office terminated Duran on May 31 following an internal investigation that concluded that Deputy Eddie Duran’s use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable and therefore violated agency policy.

According to departmental policy, OCSO deputies are authorized to use only that amount of force that is objectively reasonable to perform their duties. 

The policy states, “Deadly force shall only be used when the officer reasonably believes that the action is in defense of human life, including the officer’s own life, or in defense of any person in imminent danger of serious physical injury.”

This policy directly references a legal standard established by the United States Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor, which acknowledges the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments – in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving – about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation. 

The policy goes on to explain, “Deadly force resistance is a subject’s hostile, attacking movements with or without a weapon that create a reasonable perception by the officer that the subject intends to cause and has the capability of causing death or great bodily harm to the officer or others.”