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Memphis teen 'was running away' when shot dead by police, witnesses say
Source: The Guardian
Memphis teen 'was running away' when shot dead by police, witnesses say
Several eyewitness accounts in investigation of shooting death of 19-year-old
Darrius Stewart contradict officer Connor Schilling’s account of July incident
Jamiles Lartey and Ciara McCarthy in New York
Wednesday 16 December 2015 13.57 GMT
Darrius Stewart, the unarmed black 19-year-old shot and killed by a white Memphis police officer in July, was moving away from the officer when the second shot was fired, according to several eyewitnesses quoted in the official investigation.
The investigation, conducted by the Tennessee bureau of investigation and released by the Shelby County district attorney general on Tuesday, includes two eyewitness accounts of the incident that describe Stewart as turning to run from the officer, contradicting the officer’s account that Stewart advanced at him.
One witness said Stewart “stood up and ran away” from Schilling as the officer fired the second shot. Another witness claimed that the officer shot Stewart “as he turned away”. That same witness also claimed to hear Stewart yell “I can’t breathe” before the teen was hit with the second and, according to the Stewart family’s attorney, fatal bullet.
The identities of all the witnesses were redacted before the file was made public and the investigation notes that “while no witness saw this incident in its entirety, each person saw a portion of it”
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Several eyewitness accounts in investigation of shooting death of 19-year-old
Darrius Stewart contradict officer Connor Schilling’s account of July incident
Jamiles Lartey and Ciara McCarthy in New York
Wednesday 16 December 2015 13.57 GMT
Darrius Stewart, the unarmed black 19-year-old shot and killed by a white Memphis police officer in July, was moving away from the officer when the second shot was fired, according to several eyewitnesses quoted in the official investigation.
The investigation, conducted by the Tennessee bureau of investigation and released by the Shelby County district attorney general on Tuesday, includes two eyewitness accounts of the incident that describe Stewart as turning to run from the officer, contradicting the officer’s account that Stewart advanced at him.
One witness said Stewart “stood up and ran away” from Schilling as the officer fired the second shot. Another witness claimed that the officer shot Stewart “as he turned away”. That same witness also claimed to hear Stewart yell “I can’t breathe” before the teen was hit with the second and, according to the Stewart family’s attorney, fatal bullet.
The identities of all the witnesses were redacted before the file was made public and the investigation notes that “while no witness saw this incident in its entirety, each person saw a portion of it”
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/16/memphis-darrius-stewart-moving-away-from-police-officer-shooting-witnesses
