Controversial police shooting of blind man video released

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The video has just been released in this November 2015 police shooting at a convenience store in Fontana, a city located between LA and San Bernardino. The suspect who was legally blind and had mental health problems (schizo-affective disorder) was shot and killed. The video just released seems to contradict police reports - a total of 20 officers were involved. The family engaged Mark Geragos who is better known as a celebrity lawyer.
Graphic surveillance video released Wednesday shows a throng of Fontana police officers surrounding a legally blind and mentally ill man in a convenience store before an officer opens fire, killing him.

The muted video of the Nov. 22, 2015, incident shows multiple police officers cornering James Hall, 47, in the back of a Chevron gas station mini-mart, where police and the man engage in a brief standoff.

Hall appears to shift his weight between two counters near a soda fountain just before a police officer shoots and he collapses to the tiled floor.

The grainy surveillance images appear to partly contradict the initial account of the Fontana Police Department, which described Hall as armed with a knife and advancing on officers before police shot him dead.

Lawyers for Hall’s family released the video online Wednesday, more than a month after filing a state civil rights and wrongful-death lawsuit against Fontana and its police department. The video was first reported by Britain’s Daily Mail. The complaint also names 12 Fontana police officers allegedly involved in the shooting.

“It’s a disturbing video indictment of the officers,” said Mark Geragos, whose firm is representing Hall’s relatives.

“The video puts the lie to the obviously falsified police account of what happened. In fact, this was an execution,” he said.

A Fontana Police Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the department’s initial account, police were called after the convenience store’s clerk reported a possible burglary in progress and indicated that the suspect was “armed with a knife.”

Officers arrived at the Chevron gas station near Sierra and Slover avenues about 4:15 a.m. Police claimed Hall had a knife in one hand and a large rock in the other.

Authorities said police tried to coax Hall into surrendering but alleged he advanced toward officers, prompting the police to shoot him.

The lawsuit filed by Geragos and his firm offers a different account: that Hall, who was legally blind and suffering from schizo-affective disorder, was outside the convenience store but came in at some point to browse. The complaint claims that Hall was known to be peaceful and that community members were “fully aware of his disabilities.”

An officer approaches with a drawn handgun, and four more police officers arrive, many drawing their weapons. One of the officers also had a police dog.

At different points in the video, Hall appears to have a small item in his hands, but it is difficult to distinguish in the grainy image. At times, he also appears to be empty-handed.

One of the officers fired a shot toward Hall’s general direction, according to the suit. The police dog was also released, and one of the officers unsheathed his stun gun, the suit alleges.

Officers closed in on the man, and the combined effect startled Hall: “He ran to the rear of the convenience store and cowered there,” according to the suit.

Near the row of soda fountains and adjacent to a wall of refrigerators, Hall and police had a brief standoff. The video does not show him lunging toward any of the surrounding police officers.

One of the officers opened fire at Hall, and he fell to the floor. About 10 officers swarmed with their weapons still drawn.

The lawsuit filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court alleges the police escalated a peaceful encounter with Hall into a conflict that ended in the unlawful use of deadly force. The family’s attorneys, in the suit, argue that the police acted “in reckless and callous disregard for the constitutional rights” of Hall.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html

Daily Mail has the video, pictures and more information
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z4WA8Byqws
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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