Broward Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic disturbance call just before 10 p.m., involving a man armed with a knife at the 300 block of northwest 14th Street in Pompano Beach.
Advertisement
Spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright identified the man as 55-year-old Gregory Frazier, but no additional information was released.
Keneisha Woodward told the Sun Sentinel (http://bit.ly/2cEAzzL ) her uncle had been drinking and flipping furniture, but he was sitting in the yard and eating when deputies arrived. Both deputies fired their weapons, police said.
Even if he was holding the knife when deputies arrived, they have not yet said he “lunged” at them with it, which is the word law enforcement generally uses to justify killing citizens with knives, even when they don’t lunge.
The deputies have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Gregory Frazier’s sister called police Friday night while Frazier was arguing with another family member. Frazier responded, “Leave me alone”. The handcuffs were taken off after the deputies realized Frazier wasn’t moving and they also tried to resuscitate him, but he was already dead. They proceeded to shoot him six times and handcuffed him.
But the police in Broward County, Fla., must have missed the memo. But it was too late. It was not immediately clear if Frazier had confronted them with the knife, but his relatives said Frazier did not have to die. “I believe those three cops could have sat down, talked to him, used Tasers, anything, to constrain him”. How they may have come to such an understanding has yet to be explained.
It has been reported that Frazier never made any attempt to harm the officers with his pocket knife before he was fatally shot. They need to face criminal charges.
Advertisement
Deborah Frazier: “Hurry up”.
