Denver police officer fatally shoots man holding pen he mistook for knifereported the police, “Guardian” writes.
Police surveillance footage of the Aug. 5 killing of 36-year-old Brandon Cole shows an officer firing two shots at the man, who was on the sidewalk. A small child and a woman stood close behind the manwhen the officer shoots him and he falls to the ground.
Officials said a neighbor called 911 to report potential domestic violence involving Cole, his wife and teenage son, the Denver Post reported. Matt Clarke, a police commander, said the neighbor reported the woman may have been pushed from her wheelchair and that Cole was “chasing” his son.
The Denver Police Dept. released body camera video Monday of an August 5 incident in which an officer shot and killed a man who, police say, the officer believed was armed with a knife. Officers later learned the man held a marker, according to police. https://t.co/dooBfkOPqp
— CNN (@CNN) August 15, 2023
The short video released yesterday shows the woman sitting next to the wheelchair when officers arrived and telling the officer: “No, don’t draw your weapon against my husband, please.” The female officer replied, “I can’t” and asked if the woman needed emergency help. At that moment, Cole exited the vehicle and the two officers pointed their guns at him. It seems that he roughed them up, writes the publication.
As someone shouted: “No, no, no: ‘Don’t shoot him!’, one employee attacked him with an electric shock. Cole ran from that officer to another officer, at which point she shot him with her firearm, about 40 seconds after arriving on the scene.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas called the shooting a “tremendous tragedy” at a press conference, but defended the officer’s decision to fire two fatal shots at close range near two bystanders: “The video shows that when she finally uses her service weapon, the man is so close to her that the sight of the toddler and the other man cloud her judgement. That was certainly a factor, but there wasn’t much time to act before being met by that person”.
A Denver police officer fatally shot a man she thought was armed with a knife when he lunged at her, but he actually was holding only a black marker, investigators say. https://t.co/Vpn8zTcUBE
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 15, 2023
The district attorney will review the legality of the shooting, Thomas said.
Investigators said it appeared only one shot from the stun gun hit Cole, and that that didn’t stop him from targeting the female officer who shot him. The video shows the black pen falling to the ground, along with the injured. Cole was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Source bgnes
2023-08-16 06:19:27
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