The Washington, D.C., mayor's office has released video from an officer's body camera showing the moments immediately after the cop shot and killed an unarmed black motorcyclist, the Huffington Post reports.
Officials released the video following protests demanding answers and transparency. The protest took place at the intersection in the District's Mount Vernon Square where 31-year-old Terrence Sterling was shot and killed.
As HuffPost notes, the video only shows the moments after the shooting because the officer involved did not activate his body camera until after he fired the fatal shots. That officer was identified as Brian Trainer, 27, who has served on the force for four years.
In the video, Sterling can be seen on the ground, still on his motorcycle, with blood around him as another officer stands near him.
The unidentified officer can be seen attempting first aid, removing Sterling's vest and helmet. Someone off-camera is heard screaming, "Oh my God! He didn't do anything. Are you serious? He's not moving!" as an officer starts chest compressions.
"Keep breathing! Keep breathing! Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me," an officer can be heard saying. "Keep looking at me, bud. Keep looking at me, OK?"
Trainer can be seen holding a white material to Sterling's neck to stop the blood flow as another officer keeps up the chest compressions and continues to plead, "Keep looking at me!"
Editor's note: This video contains graphic footage.
As HuffPost reports, Sterling was transported to Howard University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Sterling was on his way home from a bachelor party when he was shot.
Immediately after the fatal shooting, D.C. officials said that Sterling was driving erratically and had intentionally driven into the passenger side of a marked police car.
The officer on the passenger side of the vehicle shot Sterling to try to stop him, officials said.
Days later, witnesses told NBC4 Washington that Sterling did not intentionally hit the police cruiser. The witnesses said that the collision was unavoidable. Witnesses also told the news station that the officer was not attempting to get out of the cruiser, but instead had rolled his window down and shot Sterling from inside the vehicle following the crash.
“The motorcycle was trying to speed off and drive away, but he couldn’t because he was kind of caught in between the sidewalk at the curb and the police car,” witness Kandace Simms told Fox 5 DC. “So the police were trying to open the passenger-side door and he couldn’t because the motorcycle was right there, and I guess when he couldn’t open the door, he rolled down his window and shot twice.”
Trainer, who was not injured in the incident, has since been placed on administrative leave, per protocol.
According to the Huffington Post, on Tuesday afternoon the Washington, D.C., police union issued a statement saying that it "strongly condemn[ed], in the most vehement terms, Mayor Muriel Bowser's decision to release the body-worn camera footage" before the conclusion of the investigation.
"Mayor Bowser’s decision to release the names of the officers involved in the incident is reckless to the extreme. This decision places these officers in danger of misguided retaliation fueled by a false media narrative, and is a completely unacceptable action," the statement read.