Chief Dyer told The Fresno Bee in a June 27 report that body-cam footage showed that the officers “felt, at least in their minds” that firearms were necessary.
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This footage was released in the wake of two high-profile killings of black men by cops, and the July 7 killing of five Dallas police officers at a Black Lives Matter rally. A second officer shot Noble when he again reached into his waistband, the video showed. Sterling, like Noble, refused to comply with police instructions, which led to officers getting into a wrestling match with him and ultimately using deadly force.
Attorney Chandler said: ‘After viewing the police bodycam videos last Friday, and conferring with experts, I am more certain than ever that the shooting death of Dylan Noble was the result of an inexcusable use of excessive force.
The video, which Dryer characterized as “disturbing”, shows the 19-year-old repeatedly ignoring the officers’ orders.
In the video, officers were heard ordering Noble to show his hands and get down on the ground.
They repeatedly shout: “Let me see your hands”.
One of the officers told investigators that “he thought Noble was either taunting him or was practising pulling out a gun”, said Mr Dyer, who added it was later determined that Noble was unarmed.
When the teenager, who is white, puts one hand in his back pocket, police shoot him four times, including twice when he has already been hit and is lying on the ground.
Police Chief Jerry Dyer says it turned out Noble was unarmed and had only a small, empty plastic container with an unknown objective in his hand. The LA Times reports how Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer confirmed the officers’ belief at a news conference while “calling for calm”.
The father is “extremely disappointed at the way the police handled this shooting and he’s relying on outside agencies for providing him with answers and justice”, said Warren Paboojian, the lawyer for Darren Noble.
The incident took place on 25 June, but footage has only just been released following a public backlash against the shooting, and the incident is being investigated.
At one point, Noble can be heard saying that he hates his life.
The video was shown last week to Noble’s father and stepfather.
Noble’s mother is now seeking damages from the city for her son’s death.
While the footage heightens the debate over body-worn cameras and if their recordings should be made public – a move that law enforcement agencies strongly oppose – it also opens the discussion about how the mentally ill and depressed are treated by the police.
“The officers never had an objectively reasonable basis to shoot Dylan Noble”, the complaint reads. Dyer said, pointing to the video, that Noble reached underneath his shirt, with his right hand, into the waistband. Noble only has one arm raised, proceeds to get out of the vehicle with both arms up and paces back and forth intermittently raising one arm.
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In the body camera footage, officers are seen approaching the young man with their guns pointed at him.
