Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
(WASHINGTON) – On Thursday, D.C. Police released the body camera footage of the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Black man by an officer Wednesday in Southeast. An emergency law requires body cam footage from any incident where police used force, including deadly force, be released 72 hours after the incident happened. You can see the video below:
The body cam footage shows the officer get out of his car and start running. Chief Peter Newsham said Deon Kaye got out of the car he was in and started running and pulled a gun out from his waistband. In the video the officer can be heard screaming, “Don’t move” four times. Kaye didn’t stop, and Newsham said the officer shot Kaye once in the chest.
Newsham said the officer saw Kaye throw the gun. They found it 98 feet from where he was shot.
A reporter told Newsham at a press conference Thursday that 98 feet seemed like a long way to throw a weapon.
“That does seem like a long way to throw a weapon, yes,” Newsham replied.
The chief said there is no way at this point to say whether the shooting was justified.
“We are in the infancy stages of an investigation. All we have is some statements and a video. There’s a lot of work yet to be done before we come up with any conclusions,” Newsham said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will also conduct an independent review of what happened.
Kaye was a validated gang member, according to Newsham, who had multiple encounters with the criminal justice system. He would not say whether Kaye had been arrested before for gun charges.
Protesters were outside Mayor Muriel Bowser’s house Thursday morning demanding she fire Newsham.
“Police Chief Peter Newsham has had no response, no acceptable response to the police’s misbehavior and abuse of protesters and community members,” protestor Crystal Gong with the Sunrise movement told ABC 7.
Demonstrators against racial injustice and D.C. Police have had multiple clashes on the streets recently. When asked if she had anything to say to the protesters outside her home, Bowser said: “I don’t say anything to them.”
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