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Video Shows Officer Fatally Shooting Unarmed, Pleading Man
Newly released body camera footage shows a police officer shooting an unarmed man in an Arizona hotel after the man sobbed and pleaded with officers not to shoot him.
The graphic video, which was released after a jury on Thursday acquitted the officer of murder and manslaughter charges, stoked outrage on social media and renewed calls for reforms in law enforcement.
“This, to me, is the most horrific shooting I’ve ever seen,” Mark Geragos, a lawyer for the widow and the 5- and 8-year-old daughters of the man, Daniel Shaver, 26, said in an interview on Saturday. Mr. Geragos, who said he had seen thousands of body camera videos, said the footage was evidence of “the criminal justice system at its worst.”
On Jan. 18, 2016, six officers were called to a La Quinta Inn and Suites in Mesa, Ariz., after guests reported seeing a man with a gun in the window of a fifth-floor room. The video showed Mr. Shaver and a woman walking into a hallway as Philip Brailsford, a two-year veteran of the Mesa Police Department who was wearing the body camera, trained an AR-15 rifle on them.
Another officer can be heard ordering them to get on the floor and threatening to shoot if they do not comply.
“If you make a mistake, another mistake, there is a very severe possibility you’re both going to get shot,” the officer says in the video. He shouts at Mr. Shaver, “If you move, we are going to consider that a threat, and we are going to deal with it, and you may not survive it.”
“I’m sorry,” Mr. Shaver says at one point. “Please do not shoot me,” he says at another.
The officer’s commands at times seemed contradictory.
“Do not put your hands down for any reason,” he tells Mr. Shaver. “Your hands go back in the small of your back or down, we are going to shoot you, do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” a tearful Mr. Shaver responds.
But immediately after, the officer commands, “Crawl towards me,” prompting Mr. Shaver to lower his hands to the floor and begin moving toward the camera.
A few seconds after beginning to crawl, Mr. Shaver twists slightly to his right, his elbow pointing upward. As someone shouts, “Don’t!” Officer Brailsford begins firing.
During his trial, Officer Brailsford testified that he had fired five times, The Arizona Republic reported.
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No weapon was found on Mr. Shaver.
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The Police Department fired Officer Brailsford two months after the shooting.
The jury deliberated for less than six hours before acquitting him.
Last edited by Goose (12/10/2017 8:30 am)
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A killing that should NOT have happened. So sad.
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That police officer shouting commands clearly made things worse. He scared that guy into incoherence.
A police officer should project both strength and calm during a tense situation.
He shouldn't be the most unhinged guy in the room.
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He shouldn't be the most unhinged guy in the room.
Ah, yes, but I thought 'good guys' with guns would protect us from 'bad guys'. All this tells me is that police officers should be better trained and deserve higher pay. The profession needs to start attracting a different sort of human being.