Unarmed Man Plead "Please Don't Shoot Me" Before Cop Murdered Him

Though this happened in January and it's been getting a lot of media coverage in the last few days (well a lot considering the 24/7 election coverage), a search on ATS for "Daniel Shaver" didn't turn up anything and I thought ATSers would want to hear about this. I don't want to excerpt excessively from a single source so I'll use a few.

Daniel Shavers and family. Image source: Daily Mail

Gawker

Moments before a Mesa, Arizona, police officer killed Daniel Shaver with five shots from an AR-15, Shaver was on all fours, pleading with officers not to shoot him, according to a newly released police report from the incident. Shaver, a twenty-six-year-old from Texas, was killed on January 18. Philip Brailsford, the two-year Mesa Police Department officer who allegedly killed him, was fired from the department and charged with second-degree murder.

Shaver was staying at a Mesa La Quinta Inn on a work-related trip when he was killed, according to a local ABC affiliate. The police report (viewable in full here) alleges that officers received a call about a man pointing a rifle out Shaver’s fifth-floor hotel window. According to the police report, the officers who responded asked Shaver and a woman he was with to exit the room. Shaver exited, then raised his hands and dropped to his knees. An officer told him to lay on the ground, and he did. He was “obviously compliant and offered no resistance at that point,” the report reads. Then, Shaver was ordered to put his hands behind his head, cross his legs, and not move. If he moved, the officer told him, he would be considered a threat, and “may not survive it.”

NY Daily News

Officer Philip Brailsford

The night of his death, Shaver had invited a man and woman at the hotel to his room for drinks, according to the report. After some shots of rum, the man asked Shaver about a case that appeared to hold a musical instrument. Shaver opened it to reveal a pellet gun and dead sparrow inside. Shaver told them he was on a business trip with Wal-Mart and “his job is to kill all of the birds that get inside the buildings,” according to the report. Shaver then briefly pointed the pellet gun out the window. When police found Shaver, they warned him that he “may not survive” if he did anything that could be considered a threat, the report says. Brailsford’s body cam shows Shaver appeared to making small jerking motions while he had his hands behind his back, according to the report.

An officer yelled at him, “If you do that again, we are shooting you. Do you understand?”

“No, please don’t shoot me,” Shaver said.

The footage shows Shaver complying with all other orders, including a demand to crawl toward the officers, as he is “audibly heard sobbing.”

At one point, Shaver’s hand appeared to move toward his waist. An officer was heard yelling, “Don’t,” before Brailsford fired.

Shaver was not armed. His hand motion appeared to be him “attempting to pull his shorts up as they were falling off,” the report says.

Previous reports have indicated Shaver may have been drunk at the time of the shooting — despite telling officers he was not — and possibly did not understand police orders. Shaver’s autopsy report has not been released.

Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder and fired from the department. The new report reveals Brailsford had etched on his rifle: “You’re F---ed.”

As was noted in the Gawker post, prosecutors offered to allow the victim's widow to view the body cam footage on the condition that she not speak to the media about what it showed. She refused to accept their conditions and uploaded a video to YouTube which includes the audio of the conversation. Here's her video description:

On 3.14.16 I met with the County Attorney Bill Montgomery, after I was informed just hours beforehand on the phone that they had previously decided, without consulting me, to offer (former) Officer Philip Brailsford a plea deal of negligent homicide, reduced down from second degree murder. I had not been given the opportunity to even view the body cam footage, nor had my (now former) attorneys. Once we got a meeting with the CA, I quickly realized that by watching the footage I was going to be silenced. I was told what I could and could not say. Ultimately, I was not allowed to watch the video. The CA made it very clear to me he would not allow the evidence/footage to be released publicly. Last Friday Bill Montgomery and the defense attorney filed a motion in court to seal the body cam footage from being released. We must demand that it be made public and get this plea deal stopped. #JusticeForDaniel #DanielShaver #FreeTheFootage #ReleaseTheBodyCam #PhilipBrailsford #BillMontgomery #MesaPD

and the video:

a reply to: theantediluvian

Sad stuff, another family that will grow up without a father, luckily the mother was not present so the kids won't lose both their parents.

a reply to: theantediluvian
I read this last night. It's so awful.

The cop looks about 16.

How could this ever be allowed to happen?

I'm not surprised they are going to agree a plea, we do live in a Police state, whereby any wrong doing on their part, is usually dealt with extremely leniently.

What a waste of life.

a reply to: theantediluvian

It's clearly a conflict of interest when the police department and the prosecuting office who often stand by police officers do their own criminal investigations. If I was the wife of this guy who was murdered in cold blood by police, I would sue the pants off this police officer and the city for obstructing justice.

The cop who had the engraving on his rifle "you're f***ed" says a lot about this police officer. Taking a life even if it's a criminal isn't something you make light of. Any derogatory wording inscribed on weapons or equipment paid by tax payers dollars should be grounds for termination. Police should be held accountable for acting professional.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Man. I just don't know what to say any more. The killing has got to stop.

That "officer" looks like already had an itchy trigger finger to begin with.

The hiring and screening process used to vet prospective LEOs is in desperate need of a serious overhaul.

I hope Brailsford gets exactly what he deserves.

Kallisti

a reply to: theantediluvian


Why so trigger-happy? Is that why this Brandon idiot joined the police force in the first place, to be a bad-ass and "shoot people" (INNOCENT people?).

According to what we're being told, Daniel Shaver was already on the ground and posed no immediate threat - even reaching for a weapon they could have tazed him or used SOME sort of non-lethal force.

I'm not a police officer so I don't know what they have to deal with, but these types of situations are so commonplace it's sickening. Shoot first, ask questions later.

Then we have whackos on the street running up and shooting LEOs as well, so I understand why this happens in some circumstances but it seems like "non-lethal options" are always walked about in hindsight and not employed when they need to be, resulting in deaths of innocents like Daniel.

Our society has a huge problem here, and it's driving a wedge between civilians and Police/the government. We must find a way to reduce these types of incidents...

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
The cop looks about 16.

And looks more the criminal than the guy he murdered in cold blood.

How could this ever be allowed to happen?

Police state USA.

originally posted by: IslandOfMisfitToys

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
The cop looks about 16.

And looks more the criminal than the guy he murdered in cold blood.

How could this ever be allowed to happen?

Police state USA.

Not one to judge a book by its cover, or a douchebag by his tats... but yeah.

Obvious douchebag cop is douchebag. His face looks as if it were sculpted for the sole purpose of being beaten in... and boy, I'd love to throw this little twat officer around.

I don't care what excuse douchebag cops and douchebag cop-apologists come up with - there was no need for lethal force.

And just for good measure - it's amazing how borderline terrorist and radical groups such as the Bundites and BLM are treated with utmost respect after making "Rambo-esque threats about not coming back home, having a bloodbath, not coming out alive," yet people such as Daniel are MURDERED with immunity, and no one bats an eye.

a reply to: RomeByFire

Well said. It's a very sad truth, but it is the truth.

Where are the protests?

Did Obama speak out and invite the widow to the Whitehouse yet?

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Where are the protests?

Why don't you go start one?

Maybe we shouldn't talk about unarmed white people being killed by police until white people stop killing white people. Right?

a reply to: Deny Arrogance

He looks white to me so this guy is clearly privileged.

When you shoot a person that is on their hands and knees begging you not to do it... and you shoot them 5 times with a rifle... and you have the words 'You're F--ked' etched on the rifle...

How is it that you only get charged with 2ND DEGREE MURDER?????

If I did that sort of thing, I expect there would be 1st degree murder charges.

a reply to: WeRpeons

Taking a life even if it's a criminal isn't something you make light of.

It is if you happen to be a murdering psychopath, whose career path is chosen specifically to enable you to kill people, but you're too chicken to join the military...

Poor bloke..poor family.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Is that a picture of the cop?

All tatted up and blue-gangsta? What a douche. I hope he gets nailed to the ceiling for this.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I see that he is qualified with the taser as it is right there strapped onto his tactical vest in the provided photo. So your telling me a United States law enforcement officer opted to shoot an unarmed and handcuffed man begging for his life instead of using his taser as proper escalation of force would call for? Yep sounds about right to me business as usual nothing to see here folks move along, thank you.

The video of the states attorney basically trying to strong arm the women into silence is the most sickening thing out of all of this. I think a lot of us have come to expect this sort of behavior from at least some small fraction of the modern day police force. For the people behind the curtain of justice to get caught and called out for their part in trying to sweep this neatly up now that calls for just as much if not more of a punishment that the officer receives. Accomplices as they say.

originally posted by: theantediluvian

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
Where are the protests?

Why don't you go start one?

Maybe we shouldn't talk about unarmed white people being killed by police until white people stop killing white people. Right?

Gosh. I thought bad cops occasionally murdering innocent people was the real issue.

I thought the president represented all americans of all races not just the half of his genes he prefers to relate to.

I thought this was an actual case of a murdering cop, unlike Mike Brown which was a justifiable homocide with absolutly no evidence of racism, yet it spawned widespread protesting and riots for months. All of which was advocated by media and politicians like Obama, Hillary and Sanders who continue to perpetuate the 'hands up, don't shoot' myth.

Here we have an actual recording of "don't shoot" but big media seems largely uninterested, compared to the Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin myths.

Why do you think that is? Systemic racism in the whitehouse and media?

a reply to: butcherguy

I'm guessing if that body cam footage were to be released to the public there would in fact be an outcry, particularly over the offer of a plea offer of negligent homicide which is less severe than manslaughter.

David Michael Cantor (criminal attorney) website :

Possible Punishment for Negligent Homicide

If convicted of a Negligent Homicide that did not involve the use of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon, then the crime is classified as a “non-dangerous” class four (4) felony. A first offense carries a potential punishment of probation with zero (0) days in jail to one (1) year in jail, or prison of one (1) year to three and three-quarters (3.75) years in custody. However, if this is not the defendant’s first offense and he has one (1) historical allegeable prior conviction, then the “prison only” range is two and one quarter (2.25) to seven and one half (7.5) years of incarceration. If the person has two (2) historical allegeable prior convictions, then the “prison only” range is six (6) to fifteen (15) years.

If the jury determines there was a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon used, then the crime is categorized as class four (4) “dangerous” felony. A first offense carries a minimum of four (4) years in prison, six (6) years presumptive in prison, and eight (8) years maximum in prison. If the defendant has one (1) allegeable historical prior conviction, the minimum is eight (8) years, presumptive is ten (10) years, and maximum is twelve (12) years incarceration. If the defendant has two (2) allegeable historical prior convictions, the minimum sentence is twelve (12) years, presumptive is fourteen (14), and maximum is sixteen (16) years incarceration.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Something needs to be done about the training and the use of their firearms. I'm so sick of these stories of unarmed people being shot and killed. The police need to be reworked and Sanders is the only one talking about it.