[kellyhound]

Fayetteville, NC - In the predawn hours of January 24, 2013, a police officer in Fayetteville, North Carolina, shot and killed a 22-year-old resident named Nijza Lamar Hagans, who had been pulled over for running a red light and making “several furtive driving maneuvers such as darting onto a neighborhood street and into a driveway,” according to a memo by Cumberland County’s district attorney, Billy West.

The police officer, Aaron Hunt, then 24, claimed that, peering into the SUV Hagans was driving, he saw Hagans reach aggressively for a gun in his pants pocket as he opened his car door.

“Officer Hunt fired his weapon after observing Mr. Hagans reaching for the gun and exiting the vehicle and turning toward Officer Hunt,” wrote West in his memo (embedded below), which concluded that Hunt’s response was “lawful and measured.”

Yet the report absolving Hunt, who is Native American and is still a police officer in Fayetteville, did not mention the existence of video from the dashboard camera in Hunt’s cruiser, which shows a more troubling unfolding of events.

The footage — which the city has withheld from public release but was provided to The Intercept by a source who requested anonymity — shows Officer Hunt shooting at Hagans a split-second after Hagans begins thrusting open his car door and while Hagans is still largely in his vehicle. Hunt shoots at Hagans, who is black, twice more as he exits the vehicle.

The video then shows Hagans running away from Officer Hunt, who, instead of pursuing him, shoots at Hagans twice as he flees. Just after these final shots, Hagans stumbles to the ground where he died.

While many elements of the video corroborate the state’s outline of events, the circumstances surrounding the most disturbing moment in the footage — the last two shots — were wholly elided in District Attorney West’s report that cleared Hunt.

The district attorney’s memo appears to rely heavily on Hunt’s account of events and also omits a key finding from the state medical examiner’s report: two of the four bullets that hit Hagans entered through his back and rear shoulder.

These bullets pierced Hagans’ lungs; one of them went on to rupture Hagans’ aorta, the body’s main artery, just above his heart, according to the autopsy findings, which The Intercept obtained through a records request. Instead, West quoted only the phrase “multiple gunshot wounds to the chest” from the medical examiner’s report to explain the cause of death.

District Attorney West declined to comment on the case. In response to a list of questions, the Fayetteville Police Department provided The Intercept with West’s report, but, citing pending litigation and confidentiality of personnel records, provided little additional comment.

The emergence of Officer Hunt’s dash-cam video comes in the context of a series of police shootings of black men that have become national political events, sparking protests across the country and igniting a nationwide discussion about race, inequality and policing tactics.

Footage taken at shooting scenes has factored heavily into some cases. In April, for instance, a police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, was charged with murder after The New York Times obtained footage of the white officer shooting Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man, in the back as he ran away.

Because he carried a loaded .380 caliber pistol, according to police, Hagans posed a genuine potential threat to Hunt, whereas the unarmed Scott had posed no such danger to the police officer who shot him.

The dashboard camera does not offer a vantage point that shows whether or not Hagans, who had a record of violent crimes, reached for a gun before being shot, and it appears that Hagans’ car door hits Hunt as it swings open.

Yet the footage of Hagans’ shooting raises a number of questions about the lethal use of force by police and the quality of information released to the public about the hundreds of fatal shootings each year for which police officers are cleared.

[Cannabliss]

Ooo we get a commentary!

[wtfomgee]

This video sucks

[nylon]

Originally Posted by wtfomgee ↗

This video sucks

feel free to upload something yourself

[davebaron666]

Yup, push and run away from police officer then people of same color will cry for the racist crime victim. Arent there one sane black person out there who will speak plainly to give one simple message" Do not run away from police, do not start a fight with police and stay alive"

[K9Grip]

Fayetteville, NC aka Fayettnam, NC is notorious for crime and thugs. Disgusting place to live.

[zer()c00L]

Originally Posted by davebaron666 ↗

Yup, push and run away from police officer then people of same color will cry for the racist crime victim. Arent there one sane black person out there who will speak plainly to give one simple message" Do not run away from police, do not start a fight with police and stay alive"

Since when has running from the police warranted a death sentence?

[soonerbob81972]

Originally Posted by zer()c00L ↗

Since when has running from the police warranted a death sentence?

Ford Explorer man made a stupid move. Regardless of race, you have to exercise basic common sense. I'm so sick of this black privilege whining crap.

[spudigitti]

[Steve]

Originally Posted by zer()c00L ↗

Since when has running from the police warranted a death sentence?

So if the cop is telling the truth and the perp was armed, he should be allowed to get away to try and shoot someone else?
All of this black can do no wrong bullshit is fucking annoying.