Body camera footage shows the father of a 6-year-old autistic boy had his hands in the air and posed no threat when cops shot at their car last week, killing the boy and wounding the father, the man's lawyer said Monday.
Mark Jeansonne, an attorney for Chris Few, who was seriously injured when local marshals in the town of Marksville opened fire. His 6-year-old, Jeremy Mardis, was killed in the car. Jeremy was shot 6 times. 5 times in the head and 1 time in the chest by the cops. His dad was shot several times. There were 18 shots aimed at the car Few was driving.
"This was not a threatening situation for the police," Jeansonne said.The first-grader was buckled in the front passenger seat when he was shot Tuesday.
The head of Louisiana’s state police said “disturbing” body camera footage helped build the case against the two officers accused of shooting the boy.
“I’ve been a police officer for 35 years, but as a father — much less as a state police — it was a disturbing, disturbing video that I watched, and that really helped move us forward,” state police Col. Michael Edmonson said Sunday.Jeansonne said Few's condition is improving, but that he has not yet been told that his son was killed.
The two marshals are jailed on $1 million bond. Derrick Stafford of Mansura, 32, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., of Marksville, 23, are each charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
The state Police Chief said they reviewed the body camera footage and it didn't look like Few was a threat to the Police officers. He also said the officers knew the little boy was in the car hence didn't understand why they shot the car.
"I’ve got to deal in facts. What’s important to me is what caused those police officers to pursue,” Edmonson said. “What caused them to open fire?”
“He (Jeremy) didn’t deserve to die like that. We need to find out why,” the colonel added.Greenhouse knew Few before the deadly encounter, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
The district attorney in the parish where the two marshals face charges has recused himself from the case. District Attorney Charles A. Riddle says one of his top assistant prosecutors is the father of Greenhouse Jr. The state attorney general's office will take over the prosecution of the case.
Riddle says the episode is "not good for any of us."
Authorities are still trying to unravel what happened Tuesday evening. Initial reports suggested the marshals were serving a warrant on Few when the shooting happened.
But the Louisiana head of state police has said there was no evidence a warrant was issued, and no gun found at the scene.
Comments
Post a Comment