A cop in Mesa, Arizona was charged with second-degree murder last year after he shot and killed a guy in the hallway of a hotel. And a jury just found him not guilty. But now his chest-cam footage is online, and some people don't agree with the verdict. The video shows two people come out of a room and get ordered onto the ground by Officer Philip Brailsford. He yells at them repeatedly, threatens to shoot the guy if his hand goes behind his back, and then orders him to crawl forward on his knees.
The guy begs for them not to shoot him, then starts to crawl forward before making the mistake of reaching back with one hand. The cop immediately fired off five shots. Officer Brailsford was fired from the Mesa Police Department shortly after the shooting. He was one of six officers responding to a report that a man with a gun had been seen at a window on the fifth floor of the local La Quinta Inn and Suites.
The guy he shot was a 26-year-old named Daniel Shaver. It turns out he'd been showing off a PELLET GUN that he used for pest control before the cops called him into the hallway. He did NOT have the pellet gun on him when he was shot. Shaver did make some movements that could have been misinterpreted as reaching for a pistol behind his back. But he was also drunk, and was supposedly trying to keep his shorts from sliding down. Shaver left behind a wife and two kids.
(Check it out the video and decide for yourself. It's not extremely graphic, but is still tough to watch and very disturbing. Shaver puts both hands behind his back at the 3:09 mark. And he reaches back one last time with his right hand at the 3:45 mark.)