A 37-year-old Black man shot and killed by an Aurora police officer after an tried visitors cease and crash Saturday evening was armed and threw a gun into the grass earlier than confronting the officer, Chief Todd Chamberlain mentioned Tuesday.
Rajon Belt-Stubblefield crashed into two automobiles whereas fleeing an Aurora police officer who was making an attempt to drag him over for dashing and a doable DUI, Chamberlain mentioned at a information convention at Aurora Police Division headquarters.
Chamberlain declined to call the officer who shot Belt-Stubblefield, citing the truth that the officer has not but been interviewed by 18th Judicial District vital incident investigators and that threats had been made in opposition to the officer and his household.
Aurora police officers haven’t launched body-camera video of the taking pictures as a result of it has not been considered by Belt-Stubblefield’s household, however Chamberlain mentioned he intends to launch the total video as soon as that occurs.
However Chamberlain did share nonetheless pictures from the video, one in every of which confirmed the officer pointing his gun at Belt-Stubblefield as he stood close to a broken car.
The encounter occurred over the course of three minutes from when the Aurora officer clocked Belt-Stubblefield with a velocity radar and tried to drag him over close to East Sixth Avenue and Sable Boulevard at 7:29 p.m., in line with a timeline shared throughout Chamberlain’s briefing.
Belt-Stubblefield didn’t pull over when the officer turned on his lights and sirens, as a substitute making an attempt to evade the cease earlier than rear-ending one other car, crossing over the median and hitting a second car.
Belt-Stubblefield didn’t comply with the officer’s orders to remain in his car and present his arms, Chamberlain mentioned. As a substitute, he acquired out of his automotive, tossed a handgun as he walked towards the sidewalk and began strolling towards the officer.
He instructed bystanders repeatedly to “get that (expletive),” or decide up the gun, whereas shifting towards the officer, Chamberlain mentioned. The officer punched Belt-Stubblefield in an try and de-escalate the scenario, at which level Belt-Stubblefield raised his fist and repeatedly requested if the officer was “prepared for this,” Chamberlain mentioned.
The officer shot Belt-Stubblefield as he continued to maneuver towards him, Chamberlain mentioned. He died on the scene.
“This isn’t one thing the officer, the division or town of Aurora wished,” Chamberlain mentioned. “The officer was performing his duties. He didn’t select this confrontation, it was the suspect’s actions that escalated into this.”
The officer who shot Belt-Stubblefield beforehand has used pressure whereas on responsibility and has had personnel complaints filed in opposition to him, though Chamberlain mentioned Tuesday these complaints had been “nothing main.”
Chamberlain repeatedly put the blame for the taking pictures on Belt-Stubblefield and highlighted the division’s many 1000’s of requires service that don’t contain police shootings.
However within the wake of the taking pictures, Aurora Metropolis Council member Alison Coombs criticized the police division’s description of occasions as closely favored towards the officer’s perspective.
“The narrative supplied biases the dialog in opposition to the one that was shot and killed and now can’t converse for himself,” Coombs wrote on Fb, the place she additionally known as for the immediate launch of video from the officer’s body-camera.
“The APD has not earned the belief essential to demand months from the neighborhood earlier than addressing why and the way one other unarmed black man was shot and killed by our police division,” Coombs wrote.
The police division was put underneath a consent decree after a 2021 investigation by the Colorado lawyer basic’s workplace sparked by Elijah McClain‘s loss of life, which discovered a sample of racially based mostly policing and extreme pressure.
Advocates with the Denver-based Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership on Tuesday launched an announcement criticizing Chamberlain’s feedback.
The group’s chief govt officer, MiDian Holmes, was concerned in one of many accidents and witnessed the taking pictures, in line with the assertion.
“Chief Chamberlain known as neighborhood belief ‘fragile.’ The reality is, there isn’t any belief,” advocates wrote. “Aurora police have squandered it via repeated acts of violence, dishonesty, and disrespect. What stays just isn’t fragility: It’s a void.”
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