Fresno Police have released body camera footage from the shooting death of the unarmed teen Dylan Noble from late June. FM89’s Ezra David Romero reports.
One of the two videos starts off with the officers pulling over 19-year-old Dylan Noble at a traffic stop. After the teen gets out of his truck he ignores the officer's demands to remove his hands from behind his back.
Here's a excerpt of the altercation between the officers and Noble: “Let me see your hands. Stop, stop right now. Put your hands on the ground now. Fresno Police Department. Drop whatever you have in your hand. Keep on forward and you’re gonna get shot man.”
Noble didn’t stop. Instead he yelled an expletive and that he hated his life.
That’s when one of the officers fired two shots from his handgun knocking the teen to the asphalt. After a pause, the officer fired a third round when Noble wouldn’t remove his hand from under his shirt. Then after a second officer fired a shot from his shotgun. Chief Jerry Dyer says he’s mulling over whether the officers had to use deadly force based on a reasonable fear.
"I will be looking at every single round that was fired individually to make sure that it was within in the law. I've had the luxury of watching this video approximately 40 times. A luxury that night those officers didn't have." - Jerry Dyer
“I also believe this video’s gonna raise questions in the minds of people just as those questions exist in my mind as well," says Dyer.
The footage comes after cell phone footage was released last week. Dyer says he chose to release the body camera footage before an investigation was complete because of community concern. He says the family saw the video last week.
"There has been a great deal of concern in the community and rightfully so," says Dyer. "We have an individual that did not have a firearm on his person or in his vehicle . . . That is why I made the decision today to release the video.”
Dyer says he can’t answer whether the two veteran officers followed protocol because he’s waiting for the investigation to conclude. He says that may happen sometime in August.
“I will be looking at every single round that was fired individually to make sure that it was within in the law," says Dyer. "I’ve had the luxury of watching this video approximately 40 times. A luxury that night those officers didn’t have.”
He says he won’t be releasing the names of the officers involved because of threats on social media. Dyer has also asked the FBI to conduct its own investigation.
