Earlier this week, a 20-year-old black man was shot in Fort Worth by police and local community organizations immediately charged it as a racially-motivated police shooting.
That narrative was absolutely blown out of the water when the bodycam footage was released, showing the officers gave the suspect ample opportunity to surrender and only reacted when he raised his weapon to fire.
Justified Shooting
After JaQuavion Slaton was shot by Fort Worth Police, community organizers immediately called for justice.
Initially, the police stated they were not going to release the bodycam footage because of the grim details it showed.
However, with growing pressure, the Fort Worth Police Department finally released an edited version of all angles of footage.
This allowed viewers to see everything that happened, including the patience by officers prior to shooting the suspect.
In the footage, an officer can clearly be heard telling the suspect to halt as well as informing his fellow officers the suspect had a gun.
When the finally surrounded the man, one officer can be seen and heard telling his fellow officers to wait.
They literally did everything in their power to save Slaton’s life, but Slaton seemed to determined to commit suicide by cop…
Leadership Support
Local leaders finally came out to support the actions by the officers, but some of the comments, especially by the Mayor, may have actually fueled the debate over whether or not this was a justified shooting or not.
Police Chief Ed Kraus stated, “They gave him several lawful orders and unfortunately he failed to comply.
“To our community that is hurting and questioning our commitment to transparency we hope today’s information will provide answers and help heal.”
Manny Perez, the Fort Worth Police Officers Association President, stated, “Well I think the information, the true story coming out is very important. As quick as we can get the true narrative out there, it kind of defeats the false narrative that’s out there that’s so damaging to our communities.”
The Mayor’s comments, however, offered a little opening that some community organizers were all too happy to jump on.
Mayor Betsy Price stated, “This young man made a mistake of not surrendering when he should have and put our officers in jeopardy, or so they felt.”
Is it that “or so they felt” at the end of the quote that almost makes it sound as though she thought the police could have acted differently here.
One local political leader blasted the police.
Richard Vazquez, stated, “My community right now … they do not trust the police.
“My community right now is shouting ‘fake news’ all day.
“They’re shooting ‘fake news.’
“They don’t believe he shot himself in the head first.”
Vazquez was referring to the report the fatal shot actually came from Slaton’s own gun, as police believe he shot himself when he raised his gun, causing the outburst of shots from the officers.
Other local communities also demanded the full and unedited version of the footage, all but accusing the police of manipulating the footage to justify their own actions.
Community leader Bishop Mark Kirkland stated, “We don’t want to see it sliced and diced, we want to see all of the footage.
“Don’t lead us to a conclusion, allow us to come to that conclusion.”
Kirkland actually challenged that officers should have backed up to de-escalate the situation, but police were not about to give an armed suspect any room to escape.
Police stated they will eventually release all bodycam footage in its original form; the edited version that was released was done so in that fashion to provide a proper timeline of the incident as well as to calm down the outrage in the community over the action police took.
The bottom line here is that Slaton broke the law, was armed, and police gave him numerous opportunities to surrender.
His death is not their fault but that of his own criminal actions.
Our police officers get it right 99.9 percent of the time.
However, over the last couple of years, the media has portrayed outlier incidents to be the norm rather than the exception, turning the public against the very people that put their life on the line every day to protect their fellow citizens.
Source: NBCDFW5
We depend on our readers to help us get the word out. So, if you agree with this article, please like and share the article on your favorite social media outlet. You are also encouraged to sign up for our newsletter to ensure you can stay informed. To sign up for our newsletter, click here.