Its most recent video, capturing a police shooting that killed a black man outside a convenience store, has reverberated far beyond Louisiana’s capital. Jordan said police confiscated the store’s video surveillance system, but he said the store owner is confident the video shows the entire confrontation and shooting. The Baton Rouge Police Department has a history of brutality against black people. The Justice Department is investigating.
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Appearing on national TV, the mother of Sterling’s children, Quinyetta McMillan, has spoken out about the effect of his death on their family, with her 15-year-old son sobbing uncontrollably by her side.
The 9News Investigators were able to obtain the police dispatch recordings from just before and just after the shooting. She says right when they were needed the most is when two of them malfunctioned in the same way. If Sterling did have a gun on him, Lang said, it was probably because he feared being robbed while peddling his CDs late at night, not because he wanted to threaten anyone.
A video shows officers holding down Alton Sterling, 37, father of five, before shooting him.
“I have full confidence that this matter will be investigated thoroughly, impartially and professionally, and I will demand that’s the way it’s conducted”, Edwards said in a prepared statement. The release of the video led to large protests in the Louisiana capital and an announced federal investigation. As is policy, the officers have been placed on administrative leave for the duration of the investigation, but maintain they were “completely justified”, the district attorney said, according to The Advocate. Police have not confirmed his version of events.
The visiting troopers say Baton Rouge police told them that they were under orders to be so hard on New Orleans evacuees that they’d decide against settling in Baton Rouge.
Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr., following calls for his resignation by the Baton Rouge NAACP chapter, told reporters he would not be leaving office. “Why you messing with me?'” The chief says the probe will be transparent and independent.
Baton Rouge law enforcement officials said an investigation was underway and provided few details about the incident on Tuesday, but an apparent video of the shooting made its way online regardless.
Banks said Sterling’s death was the tipping point for a community struggling with poverty, crime and neglect by state and local politicians.
“No 45-second video changes this fact: black men are not automatically criminals and police officers are not automatically dirty.”
“They told him not to move”, he said. “After the shots, we left”.
Reed said he doesn’t post any videos without first seeking permission from shooting victims’ relatives.
Another fatal police shooting of an African American man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has sparked protests and again raised the issue of disproportionate use of force by police. In Washington, Justice Department spokesman David Jacobs said the FBI and the US attorney’s office in Louisiana will also take part in the investigation.
Police say they were called to the store Tuesday after an anonymous caller said Sterling had threatened someone with a gun. One officer is seen removing an object – it’s unclear what, exactly – from Sterling’s right trousers pocket.
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Similar investigations, which often take many months to resolve, were opened following the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in NY. He had reportedly been selling CDs outside a shop.
