On January 18, 2016, Mesa Police Department officer Philip Brailsford shot and killed Daniel Leetin Shaver of Granbury, Texas in the hallway of a La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel. Shaver was confronted by police responding to a report saying that he was pointing a rifle out a fifth-floor hotel window. Hotel guests near the pool had notified the front desk of the incident, and the hotel immediately notified the police. After the shooting, the rifle was determined to be a pellet gun.
Following an investigation, Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder and a lesser manslaughter charge and found not guilty by a jury. Prosecutors argued the shooting was unjustified.
Video Shooting of Daniel Shaver
Incident
According to a police report, Daniel Leetin Shaver (December 29, 1989 - January 18, 2016), a pest-control worker and resident of Granbury, Texas, had been staying at a Mesa La Quinta Inn & Suites on business. He invited two acquaintances to his room for drinks. There he showed them a scoped air rifle he was using to exterminate birds inside grocery stores. At one point the gun was pointed outside his hotel window, prompting a witness to notify the front desk; the police were immediately called. Upon arrival, police gave Shaver and his acquaintances detailed orders for several minutes, with frequent admonitions that failing to comply with them would get them shot.
Eventually, Shaver was ordered to crawl on the floor towards them. While complying with their request, Shaver, who was intoxicated and could be heard sobbing, begging officers, "Please don't shoot," brought his hands toward his waist. Police Sergeant Charles Langley yelled at Shaver that if he did anything that deviated from his instructions he would shoot him and he probably would not survive. The officer told Shaver to put his hands up in the air and not to bring them down for any reason. A few seconds later, the officer ordered Shaver to crawl towards him, to which Shaver complied. Shaver then reached his right hand back towards his waistband, at which point Langley can be heard yelling "Don't!" while Officer Phillip Brailsford simultaneously opened fire with his AR-15 rifle, striking Shaver five times and killing him almost instantly. Shaver was unarmed.
Maps Shooting of Daniel Shaver
Aftermath
In early March 2016, Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder in relation to the incident. Later that month, the Mesa police department, citing several policy violations that included the words "YOU'RE FUCKED" engraved into his rifle dust cover and unsatisfactory performance, fired Brailsford. Brailsford pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution and defense have interviewed 34 witnesses, but key witness Monique Portillo has not cooperated with any requests for media interviews. Portillo, who had been drinking in Shaver's room with Shaver and a co-worker, exited the hotel room with Shaver when commanded by police to enter the hallway.
Brailsford's trial for second-degree murder was originally scheduled for February 2017. A defense motion challenging the state's probable cause to send the case to trial, and appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court over the release of controversially redacted footage from Brailsford's body camera, made a February trial unrealistic. On February 10, 2017, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge George Foster rescheduled the trial for October 23, 2017. Brailsford faced up to 25 years in prison if found guilty of second-degree murder.
On December 7, 2017, after a 6-week trial, a jury acquitted Brailsford of all charges.
Body camera footage
Shaver's wife and her lawyer requested that the Mesa Police Department release bodycam footage of the event. The request for the bodycam footage was initially refused. In a recording released by Shaver's wife, purportedly of a meeting between her and Maricopa County prosecutors, she was told that she could watch the video only if she agreed not to discuss its contents with the press. Prosecutors and defense attorneys in Brailsford's murder trial asked that the bodycam footage be sealed. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers granted the motion to seal the footage.
On May 25, 2016, Myers ordered portions of the video released. The released video omits the shooting itself. The redacted version includes footage from Brailsford's body camera up to the time when someone exits Shaver's hotel room and footage from another officer's camera while he escorts a woman from the room.
The full unedited body camera footage of the shooting was unsealed by the Court immediately after the end of the trial.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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