John Crawford III did not even have the BB gun pointed in the air. In fact, he wasn’t even facing the officers who shot him.
At least, that’s what his family’s attorney has said after being allowed to review surveillance video from the fateful Aug. 5 incident at an Ohio Wal-Mart, the Raw Story reports.
According to attorney Michael Wright, the surveillance video showed Crawford leaning against the unpackaged pellet rifle, supporting his body, while he spoke on the phone, with his back turned to the police.
“John was doing nothing wrong in Wal-Mart—nothing more, nothing less than shopping,” Wright said of the video, which the state’s attorney general permitted him to see, according to the report.
Wright said that the young man, who was a father, was “shot on sight” in a “militaristic” response, the Raw Story notes.
In original reports, police said that the 22-year-old had refused to drop the weapon after being ordered to do so. A shopper who witnessed the shooting said that the young man “looked like he was going to go violently.”
The attorney’s own account of what happened is a clear contradiction of that report. Wright added that, given the footage, it seemed that Crawford did not see or hear the officers.
The case has been given to a special prosecutor, who will present it to a grand jury late September, the news site notes.
Read more at the Raw Story.