Calibre Press |Developing Smarter, Safer, More Successful Law Enforcement Officers

BODYCAM: Officer Found Not Guilty of Second-degree Murder of Daniel Shaver

The officer claimed during trial that stress affected his split-second decision

By Calibre Press | Dec 8, 2017

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[Publisher’s Note: The previous article fragment appended to this video, from CBSNews.com, mistakenly attributed the commands to Brailsford. They in fact came from Sgt. Charles Langely. Thank you to W.J. for alerting me to this discrepancy.]

From the WashingtonPost.com:

The shooting, by Philip “Mitch” Brailsford, then an officer with the Mesa Police Department, occurred after officers responded to a call about a man allegedly pointing a rifle out of a fifth-floor window at a La Quinta Inn. Inside the room, Shaver, 26, had been doing rum shots with a woman he had met earlier that day and showing off a pellet gun he used in his job in pest control.

The graphic video, recorded by Brailsford’s body camera, shows Shaver and the woman exiting the hotel room and immediately complying with commands from multiple officers. The video was shown in court during the trial, but it was released to the public after jurors acquitted Brailsford on Thursday.

After entering the hallway, Shaver immediately puts his hands in the air and lies down on the ground while informing the officer that no one else was in the hotel room.

“If you make a mistake, another mistake, there is a very severe possibility that you’re both going to get shot. Do you understand?” Sgt. Charles Langley yells before telling Shaver to “shut up.”

“I’m not here to be tactical and diplomatic with you. You listen. You obey,” the officer says.