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More incidents in the Richmond Police Department

Incident Killing-of-Santana-Olavarria

Date May 19, 2004
Time 06:00 PM
Report # Killing-of-Santana-Olavarria
Department Richmond Police Department
Officers Edward Aeschlimann
Address Mechanicsville Turnpike near Fairfield Avenue
Richmond, VA

Incident Description

Richmond Police officers Michael Couture and Edward Aeschlimann shot 21-year-old Santana Olavarria during a traffic stop. The officer said there was a struggle to remove Olavarria from the car, and he was dragged by the car and pulled into the vehicle as it started to move.

Officer Couture shot Santanna Olavarria, killing him, and Officer Ed Aeschlimann shot him four times. Couture was tried twice and convicted of manslaughter, served no jail time, but was given a fine.

Aeschlimann was indicted for murder. The charge was later reduced to second-degree manslaughter. He was found guilty, but is still employed at the Richmond Police Department.

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