Another fatal police shooting from last month is getting attention, and the police department involved released body camera video footage from the incident Wednesday, the Fresno Bee reports.
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The video has been released amid heightened scrutiny and a US Justice Department investigation of policing across the country and the fact that at least two black people are killed every week by law enforcement.
The video was shown last week to Noble’s father and stepfather.
One officer is a 20-year veteran of the Fresno force and has no previous involvement with a police shooting. Warren Paboojian, an attorney for Noble’s father Darren Noble, responded to Dyer’s characterization of the events surrounding the teenager’s death. Afterwards, the officers fired two more shots with twelve seconds between them, because Noble refused their requests to show both of his hands. Actually, it is the #BlackLivesMatter movement that is speaking out for Dylan Noble.
Officers continue to shout commands at Noble, who moves both away from and towards the officers at various moments. Some observers thought it clearly showed that the shots – particularly the final two, when Noble was already on the ground – were not justified.
After watching the footage, Noble’s family launched legal action against the city alleging that the shooting was ‘an inexcusable use of excessive force’.
“There has been a great deal of concern in the community and rightfully so”, says Dyer. His mother, who declined to watch the videos, is seeking damages from the city for her son’s death.
Numerous people have gathered to support Dylan Noble and his family. A criminal and an internal affairs investigation is underway.
New York Daily News reports that Noble was shot to death on June 25, after reportedly reaching into his waistband two times while police yelled at him to keep his hands up.
According to police, the gunman, Micah Johnson, was a political extremist motivated by grievances over police shootings promoted by the the Black Lives Matters movement. After he dropped to the ground, they shot him two more times. He reached his right hand behind his back and appeared to carry an object in his right hand that officers believed could be a weapon, Dyer said. After a pause, the officer fired a third round when Noble wouldn’t remove his hand from under his shirt.
It was disclosed that an object in Noble’s hand, believed initially to be possibly a weapon, whilst on the ground, determined to be a 4-inch plastic container with malleable clay.
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“Some of this video will answer numerous questions that are out there in this community”, Dyer said. They also said he probably didn’t pull over immediately and instead drove to the gas station because the wheels on his truck put him up too high to have an ordinary interaction with police via his driver’s side window. “We are pleased to discover from the media that Chief Dyer is belatedly providing the body camera footage to the general public”, Chandler said. Chief Jerry Dyer says he’s mulling over whether the officers had to use deadly force based on a reasonable fear.
