https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/cr...64b999f50.html
The Tulsa Police Department on Monday released videos of a shooting that left one officer dead and another seriously wounded.
Police Chief Wendell Franklin and Mayor G.T. Bynum urged the public to refrain from watching the videos showing the June 29 shooting.
The chief spent much of a news conference called to release information about the videos disputing claims that the department had misled the public about the events surrounding the shootings of Sgt. Craig Johnson and Officer Aurash Zarkeshan.
“People are not police officers, and they don’t understand,” Franklin said, adding that he disagreed with the release of the videos because of the trauma the incident has put upon officers and his belief that the videos are “evidence that should be played out in court.”
David Anthony Ware, 33, could face the death penalty on a first-degree murder charge in connection with Johnson’s death. He is also charged with shooting Zarkeshan with intent to kill him, as well as with drug possession with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction.
Ware’s co-defendant, Matthew Hall, is accused of being an accessory after the fact on an allegation that he helped Ware evade arrest immediately after the shooting. Both men will next appear in court Oct. 5.
District Judge William Musseman ruled Thursday that videos from Zarkeshan’s body and dashboard cameras and Johnson’s body camera should be made public in accordance with the Oklahoma Open Records Act, allowing an order sealing them to expire at 9 a.m. Monday. Musseman did not make specific orders or requests to redact any of the footage, saying he would let the Tulsa Police Department decide what, if any, portions to withhold.
snip
The department released unredacted footage of the roughly 20-minute encounter but also included a 16-minute video with captions interspersed that combines parts of the others. That video draws attention to Ware’s reaching under his driver’s seat with his right hand shortly before he is shown with a gun in the same hand.
Zarkeshan is hit when Ware fires off several shots, while Johnson is heard saying “What the …?” and yelling “Watch out!” shortly before being shot in what Franklin said was his chest. Ware is last seen using two hands to hold the gun and fire a final time at Johnson before running out of the camera’s view.
Johnson died June 30 at a Tulsa hospital after being taken off life support.
The mayor said in a post on social media that he understood the legal reasons to release the videos and the “citizens’ right to see the actions of their officers.”
“But if you revere these brave men as I do, then don’t watch this video,” Bynum said. “Don’t share it. Just say a prayer for them, their families, and all who risk their lives to keep us safe.”
Similarly, Franklin said: “If I were the public, I would turn the television off. I would tune out. Let this video play out in court, and let the judge and jurors be the ones that must view it.”
These are bad times to be a cop.
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Originally Posted by DiverseSegregation
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