The footage, recorded on a police dashboard camera, showed a
traffic stop escalating into the deadly confrontation in less than
two minutes after one of the police officers said he saw a gun in
the car's glove compartment.
The death of Jerame Reid on Dec. 30 in Bridgeton has prompted
protests in the city, local media has reported. Some protests have
been similar to those over cases last year in Missouri and New York
City in which white police officers killed unarmed black men.
Reid, who was sitting in the car's front passenger side, was black,
as is the car's driver.
The video shows a black police officer, identified in local media
reports as Braheme Days, approaching the parked car on Reid's side.
"Hey, how are you all doing?" he asks cordially before asking why
they had not stopped at a stop sign.
Within a few seconds, Days pulls out his gun and tells his white
patrol partner, identified in media reports as Roger Worley, that
there is a gun in the glove compartment.
"Don't you fucking move. I'm going to shoot you," Days said. He also
shouted at Worley to get the men out of the car.
The video shows Days reaching into the car and removing what appears
to be a gun and dropping it to the ground.
Days repeatedly orders the men not to move and show their hands,
referring to Reid by his first name at one point.
Moments later, Days shouts: "He's reaching! He's reaching!"
Days steps back from the car, and Reid emerges with his hands up
around shoulder height.
Almost instantly, both police officers shoot at him. At least six
shots can be heard as Reid falls to the ground.
The Bridgeton Police Department said in a statement on Tuesday the
it was opposed to releasing the video but was legally forced to do
so after a New Jersey newspaper asked for it under the Open Public
Records Act.
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The police department did not respond to Reuters requests for
further information about the case. The Cumberland County
prosecutor's office said it could not release details because the
investigation was ongoing.
Local media reported that both officers had been put on leave.
According to John Edward, who works with Conrad Benedetto, a lawyer
representing Reid's family, Days knew Reid because he arrested him
in 2014 on charges of drug possession that were later dismissed.
Edward confirmed media reports that Reid had spent some 15 years in
prison for the non-fatal shooting of three police officers when he
was 15.
In an emailed statement, Benedetto said the state's attorney general
or another independent law enforcement agency should investigate the
killing.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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