On 18 January 2016,
Mesa Police Department officer Philip Brailsford, age 26, shot and killed 26-year-old
Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas. Shaver was allegedly in possession of an
air rifle while he was staying at a
La Quinta Inns & Suites hotel. Hotel guests near the pool notified the front desk that someone was pointing a rifle out a fifth floor window. The hotel immediately notified the police. Following an investigation, Brailsford was charged with
second-degree murder. Controversy emerged surrounding the release of
body camera footage of the event.
Incident[edit]
According to a police report, Daniel Shaver, a pest-control worker and resident of Granbury, Texas, had been staying at a Mesa
La Quinta Inn on business. He invited two acquaintances to his room for drinks. There he showed them a scoped air rifle he was using to exterminate birds inside grocery stores. At one point the gun was pointed outside his hotel window, prompting a witness to notify the front desk; the police were immediately called. Upon arrival, police gave Shaver and his acquaintances detailed orders for various minutes, with frequent admonitions that failing to comply with them would get them shot. Eventually, Shaved was ordered to crawl on the floor towards them. While complying with their request, Shaver, who was intoxicated and could be heard sobbing, begging officers, "Please don't shoot," made several hand motions towards his waist, apparently to pull his shorts up. An officer warned Shaver that if he kept reaching for his waist, they would shoot.
When Shaver reached for his waist again, Brailsford yelled “Don't!” before shooting Shaver five times in the back and neck with an
AR-15 rifle. Shaver was unarmed.
[1][2]
Aftermath[edit]
In early March 2016, Brailsford was charged with second-degree murder in relation to the incident.
[3] Later that month, the Mesa police department, citing several policy violations that included the profane language "YOU'RE F[*]CKED" custom engraved into his rifle dust cover
[4] and unsatisfactory performance, fired Brailsford.
[5][6][7] Brailsford pleaded not guilty.
[8]
The prosecution and defense have interviewed 34 witnesses, but key witness Monique Portillo has not cooperated with any requests for interviews. Portillo, who had been drinking in Shaver's room with Shaver and a co-worker, exited the hotel room with Shaver when commanded by police to enter the hallway.
[9]
Body camera footage[edit]
Shaver's wife, Laney Sweet, and her lawyer requested that the Mesa Police Department release body-cam footage of the event.
[2] The request for the body-cam footage was initially refused. In a recording released by Sweet, purportedly of a meeting between her and
Maricopa County prosecutors, Sweet was told that she could watch the video only if she agreed not to discuss its contents with the press.
[1] Prosecutors and defense attorneys in Brailsford's murder trial asked that the body-cam footage be sealed. Maricopa County
Superior Court Judge Sam Myers accepted the motion to seal the footage.
[10]
On 25 May 2016, Myers ordered portions of the video released. The released video omits the shooting itself. The edited version includes footage from Brailsford's body camera up to the time when someone exits Shaver's hotel room and footage from another officer's camera while he escorts a woman from the hotel. In accordance with arguments from Brailsford, prosecutors, and Shaver's parents, the court order bars the public release of the encounter between officers and Shaver until Brailsford's case is resolved in order to protect Brailsford's right to a fair trial.
[11]
Trial[edit]
Brailsford's trial for second degree murder was originally scheduled for February 2017. A defense motion challenging the state's probable cause to send the case to trial, and appeals to the Arizona Supreme Court over the release of controversially redacted footage from Brailsford's body camera, made a February trial unrealistic. On 10 February 2017, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge George Foster rescheduled the trial for 23 October 2017.
[9]
and...
PHOENIX (AP) - Philip Brailsford has been found not guilty of second degree murder and reckless manslaughter, in the trial of a hotel guest's shooting death nearly two years ago.
So where is Richard Spencer and David Duke?
Seriously?
3:48 for the fireworks fam...
I know right...
He just wanted to shoot someone that day.
bullshyt... The cop could have had him laid out hands out walked over and cuffed him like they USUALLY do...
Ancestors.
