The chief also said that the officers’ entire interaction with Noble – which began as a traffic stop and accelerated to a “high-risk” stop when he failed to immediately pull over – would be reviewed to determine if officers acted appropriately and within department policy.
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Roughly 15 seconds after the third shot, with Noble barely moving, another officer shot a fourth.
As the ambush killing of five Dallas police officers by Micah Johnson showed the world last week, we are living in often irrational and risky times.
The video of Noble’s death comes amidst a string of videos released to the public that show officer-involved shootings.
“They just wanted to shoot him”, said Darren Noble, Dylan’s father, after watching the footage.
Dyer said he would not release the name of the officers out of fear for their safety.
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.
“I anticipate that some of this video will answer numerous questions out there in this community”, Chief Jerry Dyer said at a news conference.
As he approaches the officers, he can be heard saying, “I fucking hate my life”.
Stuart Chandler, the attorney for Noble’s mother, Veronica Nelson, claims that the police used excessive force when handling the teenager. Dyer stressed during the news conference that officers are trained to assess the situation after every shot, and that the officers involved would be asked about the threat that they perceived before each of the shots.
They were stopped at a red light when a black pickup truck made a right turn onto the road in front of them and with screeching tires, appeared to speed away. On the ground he continues reaching under his shirt, the video shows. The video was shown last week to Noble’s father and stepfather.
“We don’t know what that is”, Dyer said.
Dyer defended his choice to release the video on Wednesday, citing the deaths of Dallas police officers the night before.
Of particular note, the chief acknowledged the video would ‘raise questions’ about whether the last two shots fired were justified.
Three separate investigations of the shooting, including one by the FBI, are underway.
“Were the last two rounds fired by the officers necessary?”
The shooting remains under investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs division. “I do not have the answer to that today”, he said, adding: “That video was extremely disturbing to watch”.
Dylan’s family and their attorneys have seen the video.
In addition, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office is also conducting an investigation, to see if the officers’ actions were lawful.
One officer is a 20-year veteran of the Fresno force and has no previous involvement with a police shooting.
The shooting took place at a gas station at Shields and Armstrong.
The amount of money that Noble’s family seeks from the city of Fresno remains unknown.
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According to the media reports, the video was shown to Noble’s family on July 8, which filed a case against the city of Fresno for police’s inexcusable use of excessive force, claiming to be even more convinced in doing so after seeing the body-cam footage.
