Cannon County deputies shot and killed a man they claim attempted to run over them while doing donuts in his front yard. But the family is calling the shooting death senseless.
Richard Butcher, 28, of 2044 Petty Gap Road was shot and killed Monday night.
"One (deputy) was shooting this way, one (deputy) was shooting that way," the victim's brother Nicholas Butcher said.
Nicholas Butcher said he did everything he could to get the Cannon County Deputies to stop shooting last night.
"I came on the front porch and I screamed at the police to stopped shooting, and they didn't they keep going. I screamed three different times they had that much time to keep shooting," Butcher said.
Butcher says his brother Richard, known to his family and friends as "Rick" was doing donuts in the front yard; the tire marks are still visible. He said two Cannon County officers showed up, and things took a tragic turn. Lawmen claim he tried to run over them.
"They said they were in fear for their lives. They pulled on my property if they would have stayed in their cars they wouldn't have been in any kind of danger," Butcher said, "They advanced toward them, and started shooting. They put themselves in that situation, and then felt like they could justify it."
According to the Tennessee Bureau Investigation (TBI), the deputies were in the area responding to a report of stolen scrap metal. The suspect was supposed to have been in a black pickup. When the deputies saw Butcher driving "crazy" in his yard in a black truck, they stopped, said TBI spokesperson Kristin Helm.
"It was pop, then pop, pop, pop," neighbor Becky Sherburne said.
Sherburne was standing in her front yard, and watched the tragic events unfold.
"After he let that first round go the car immediately had started to roll backward and he kept firing. He unloaded his gun on him, and didn't stop until it was empty I'm sure," Sherburne said.
The truck came to rest in a pit of mud. Authorities said Butcher was pronounced dead at the hospital. Family members aren't buying it.
"He died in the truck they let him sit in the truck for 45 minutes and bleed out. The ambulance was here. There were several witnesses," Butcher said.
Cannon County Sheriff Darrell Young referred all questions to the TBI. No word tonight if the two deputies are on routine leave until the investigation is complete.'
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