Two former police officers in Lawton, Oklahoma, were charged with manslaughter on Friday in a black shooting in December. In videos released by the city on Friday, the man, Quadri Sanders, appears to have been following orders to raise his hands after he was originally shot when he was shot multiple times.
The graphic video with the body of the confrontation camera shows police officers Nathan Ronan and Robert Hinckle answering a call by 911 on December 5, 2021, shortly after 8:30 p.m. specified in the order.
Lee Merritt, the family’s lawyer, said in a statement that Mr Sanders had an argument with a woman when police were called.
Mr Sanders, 29, is the man who violated the protection order, according to a statement issued in December by Lawton Police Chief James T. Smith. The statement added that the caller reported that Mr. Sanders was brandishing a gun in the house. Officials have learned that Mr. Sanders is refusing to let one of the residents leave, according to a statement from the district attorney’s office, reported by local news station KSWO.
The footage shows officers using a loudspeaker to warn Mr Sanders of their presence. A woman leaves the house. Mr. Sanders then walked out the back door, according to the caption in the video. Mr. Sanders obeyed an officer’s orders to show his hands, according to the district attorney’s office, before fleeing back inside.
When Mr. Sanders left the house again, the officer carrying the body camera moved toward him, directing him to raise his hands and fall to the ground. (It was not immediately clear whether the footage released from the city came from the camera of Officer Ronan or Officer Hinkle.) The only object visible in his hands was a baseball cap, according to a statement from the district attorney. Mr. Sanders appears to be trying to move behind a refrigerator that sits outside. Just as he raised his hands above his head, one of the officers shot Mr. Sanders four times.
Mr. Sanders then falls to the ground, at which point an officer says again, “Hands! Hands!” Hands! Hands! “
The footage then shows Mr Sanders sitting with his hands over his head, at which point he was shot repeatedly. According to a statement from the district attorney’s office, 15 rounds of ammunition were fired at Mr Sanders in total – 11 rounds from Officer Hinckle and four from Officer Ronan.
Police shouted at Mr. Sanders to “stand down” and “roll over on his stomach.” Mr. Sanders, writhing, seems to be saying, “I’m down,” and “I can’t breathe.”
Police were then seen dragging Mr. Sanders’ limp body out of the door, leaving a trail of blood in the driveway. They did not begin to treat his wounds more than two minutes after the last shots were fired.
Mr Sanders was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a statement from the police chief.
“I can’t find a single factor that can be redeemed to mitigate any aspect of this shooting,” Mr Merritt wrote on Instagram. “It was just a murder. There was no excuse. These people must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. “
Mr Ronan and Mr Hinkle were fired from the department on 7 January following an internal investigation which found that the staff’s actions “did not comply with well-established training protocols, policies, practices, customs or procedures”, according to a statement of city manager Michael Cleghorn in January. A separate criminal investigation was conducted by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, which prompted Comanche County District Attorney Kyle Kabelka to file charges Friday.
Each of the former police officers paid $ 25,000 bail on Friday. The hearing is scheduled for August 1. According to Oklahoma sentencing guidelines, first-degree manslaughter sentences include a minimum sentence of four years in prison.
Mr Ronan had previously been investigated for the fatal shooting of another black man, Zonterious Johnson, 24, in January 2021. The shooting took place just three miles from the spot where Mr Sanders was shot dead in Lawton, a city with a population of 90,000 residents just over an hour southwest of Oklahoma City.
The District Attorney’s Office cleared Officer Ronan of any wrongdoing in April 2021 after a report by the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation found that Mr. Johnson had raised his gun despite an order from Officer Ronan to release the weapon. Officer Ronan was chasing Mr Johnson after hearing gunshots in front of a local restaurant and seeing Mr Johnson standing in the street with his arm outstretched and another man shooting Mr Johnson, according to a statement from the police chief.
Lawton Police Department, District Attorney Cable and Mr. Hinckle were not available for comment. Mr Ronan declined to comment.
“While this decision and the release of information that followed may shed light on this tragic incident, it does not come without affecting the stages of grief and mourning for a lost loved one,” Lawton Mayor Stan Booker said in a statement. . “I believe Lawton’s police department adheres to the highest possible standards, and I know it will continue to do so.”
Jack Beg contributed to the research.
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