Cop Suspended After Disturbing Video Showed Him Kill Unarmed Man As He Ran Away

Philadelphia, PA — One man is dead following an officer-involved shooting which took place on June 8th in Philadelphia. Now the officer who killed 30-year-old David Jones as he ran away has been suspended and potentially fired following the release of a very disturbing video and a three-month long investigation. But that disciplinary action does not go far enough for critics who say Officer Ryan Pownall should be brought up on murder charges.

Pownall was transporting witnesses in a separate case when he said he approached Jones for allegedly driving his dirt bike erratically. After the officer made contact with the man riding a motorcycle, Jones produced a handgun and Pownall opened fire. After attempting to fire the first shot, the officer’s gun jammed, at which time Jones had dropped the gun and was running away. Pownall fired another two shots, with one hitting Jones in the back, killing him. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross addressed reporters saying:

In both instances, Jones was running away from Pownall, with nothing (no weapon) in either hand. Officer Pownall violated departmental policy when he made the vehicle stop with witnesses in the back of the patrol car. He also failed to notify police radio of the traffic stop or call for backup. He fired two shots at Jones while he was running away and no longer posing what appeared to be a threat to himself (Pownall) or witnesses at that moment.

Ross continued saying:

Because Jones never looked back at Pownall in the video and his hands were empty, he posed no imminent or immediate threat to Pownall.

Issac Gardner and several members of the Black Lives Matter group protested outside of Pownall’s house as well as police headquarters. Gardner remarked:

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We will show back up at his house. We’re not done. It was good that he was fired, but we need him charged with the murder of David Jones.

Doretha Crosby is Jones’ mother. She told reporters:

I just don’t get why this cop just took his life. He was only going to sell his bike and lost his life. It just don’t make no sense.

Video of the deadly shooting shows Jones running away from the officer, around a vehicle, before being killed by the officer’s bullet. But police do not dispute eye witness testimony that Jones pulled a gun on the officer first.

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In June, when the incident happened, Ross addressed reporters saying that eyewitnesses saw the officer approach Jones, and reach around his waist, where he felt the firearm. He ordered Jones not to “reach” for the weapon. Jones ignored that command and pulled the gun on the officer, who quickly drew his own weapon and attempted to fire. Ross said the first shot by the officer was entirely justified, but the subsequent two were not, and he was apparently fired for shooting an unarmed man in the back.

The incident in Philadelphia is the latest in what seems to be a string of cop vs. biker incidents which have left several citizens dead. Just last week we brought you the story of Demond Grimes—a 15-year-old child—who was killed by a Michigan State Police Officer Mark Bessner after the officer tased Grimes from his vehicle as the teenager was riding his ATV.

Grimes then crashed into the back of a pickup truck, killing him instantly. The cowboy drive-by style shooting left his family grieving and lawyers lining up to sue the officer, the department, and the city, for his alleged reckless behavior.

We will continue to bring you updates in the David Jones case from Philadelphia as they become available.

Graphic Dashcam: Cop Shoots Fleeing, Unarmed Man in Back, Fires Again After He Falls

Three years after a Knoxville police officer shot an unarmed man in the back six times and killed him, an appellate court has determined that the officer is not eligible for qualified immunity in the $3 million civil rights lawsuit he is facing.

The incident occurred during a stop on the side of the road when Officer David Gerlach encountered Ronald E. Carden, a 45-year-old man who was recently released on parole. It ended with Gerlach shooting Carden multiple times in the back, and then proceeding to shoot him as he was falling to the ground. The horrific incident now serves to illustrate that not only did police lie about what happened, they covered it up, and refused to bring charges against an officer who should have likely been charged with homicide.

Carden’s son, Brandon, is suing Gerlach and the Knoxville Police Department for $3 million in a federal civil rights lawsuit. He recently won a small victory in court when an appellate judge refused to grant qualified immunity to Gerlach. The court ruled that not only did case law not sustain that the shooting was justified, but they denied Gerlach’s claim of immunity from prosecution. The court wrote:

“Because it was clearly established at the time of the shooting that the police may not fire on a fleeing suspect who does not pose a threat of serious physical harm, the denial of qualified immunity was proper.”

In other words, while police officers are normally protected from prosecution because of qualified immunity statutes, when a suspect is running away, a police officer may not shoot and kill such a person. One might be tempted to believe such a conclusion would fall in the realm of common sense, but not when it comes to police, as The Free Thought Project has reported.

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The incident occurred along the side of Knoxville’s Interstate 40 at about 3 a.m. on July 27, 2014, when the car Carden was driving got a flat tire. From Gerlach’s dashcam footage, two men (Carden and a friend) can be seen attempting to change the flat tire on the car. Some police officers may have attempted to help the two men, but Gerlach ran Carden’s plates which reportedly came back registered to a different vehicle.

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Thinking the car might be stolen, Gerlach began questioning Carden. As soon as Gerlach reached for Carden’s arm, Carden punched him and began running away, out of camera view. A taser can be heard as having been deployed, and then six shots were fired.

Gerlach radioed “shots fired” and backup officers arrived, and Carden’s friend—who had stayed out of the encounter, even as he watched the shooting—was placed in handcuffs. The story that followed was anything but the truth.

KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk reportedly described such a violent struggle for Gerlach’s gun that the holster broke under the force. “Officer Gerlach was able to retain enough control of the gun to fire more than one shot,” DeBusk said.

What DeBusk failed to mention, which the autopsy confirmed, was that Gerlach shot Carden in the back six times, with five bullets being fired from a distance of more than three feet. Not only was Carden fleeing, but Gerlach shot him after he had fallen to the ground, according to the autopsy report.

Carden’s son filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gerlach, and the KPD for its officer’s use of deadly force against his father. Gerlach’s attorneys contended he should be given immunity from prosecution on the basis that he was acting within his official duties as a police officer at the time of the shooting. The judge overseeing the case completely disagreed.

READ MORE:  HUNDREDS of Police Depts Caught Breaking the Law by Covering Up Number of Officer-Involved Deaths

Proof Gerlach shot both a fleeing man, and killed a wounded man comes from the pen of the judge overseeing the appeal. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Sixth District U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Tom Varlan cited the autopsy report as well as evidence presented by Carden’s attorneys. Varlan wrote:

“(Carden) started to flee, and made it about one step, when (Gerlach) began shooting at (Carden)…(Gerlach) fired approximately two to three shots at (Carden) while (Gerlach) was still lying on the ground. He then stood up and fired three more shots down at (Carden). Approximately thirty-five seconds elapsed from the moment (Carden) struck (Gerlach) to the moment (Gerlach) fired his final round.”

The Sentinel also noted that while the dash cam footage showed Carden wearing jeans and a buttoned-up shirt when he ran from Gerlach, his body arrived at the morgue shirtless and in handcuffs. The shirt was not turned over until three weeks after the shooting, and it was “still buttoned but turned inside out,” with “no evidence Carden was wearing the shirt when he was struck by bullets.“

For those who might assume that Gerlach had probable cause to shoot Carden, the court opined:

“[Even if Gerlach] had probable cause to fear for his safety during his struggle with Carden [a jury could find] he lacked the same cause after the struggle had ended and Carden, still unarmed, had turned and begun to flee.”

Police officers and departments everywhere should take notice that it is still unlawful to shoot at fleeing suspects who pose no serious threat to police.

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According to a report from the Knoxville Mercury, which conducted an extensive review of the disciplinary procedures inside the KPD, the problem is systemic.

“Although more than 100 officers have been flagged in the 14 years since an early intervention system was instituted to nip problem behaviors in the bud, only one of those officers has actually been enrolled in the correctional part of the program. In all other cases, supervisors decided the officers’ activities weren’t a problem.”

Equally disturbing is the fact that the police department investigates itself when officers are accused of serious infractions.

“The Mercury examined the personnel files of more than 20 officers who have either recently been the subject of lawsuits related to use of force, had repeated misbehavior problems or high-profile errors, or who have been flagged for recurring problems by the department itself. In these officers’ cases, reprimands, “counseling forms,” and even suspensions often appear to have had little to no effect on officers’ annual reviews, pay raises, or promotions. The department itself investigates potential criminal allegations against its officers, even in cases that involve deadly use of force or shooting deaths.”

Had there been an independent review board, operating outside of the influence of the police department, and an effective discipline program at work within the KPD, then maybe this shooting could have been prevented.

As Carden’s son moves forward in his civil rights lawsuit, it is important to remember that even if he does win the $3 million he is pursuing, Tennessee taxpayers will be the ones footing the bill, not the killer cop.