Video: Black Man Fatally Shot by NJ Cops Apparently Had Hands Raised
Dashboard camera video obtained but the South Jersey Times shows two New Jersey police officers shooting and killing a black suspect exiting a car with his hands apparently raised. Prior to the shooting, one officer is seen removing what appears to be a handgun from the vehicle.
The shooting took place in Bridgton, N.J. during a routine traffic stop on December 30. After Officer Braheme Days approaches the car's passenger window and asks to see the driver's ID, he claims to spot a gun in the glove department. Days quickly draws his weapon and tells the driver and passenger not to move. Later, he's seen removing a silver, gun-sized object from the car.
The passenger, identified as Jerame Reid, can be heard telling Days he wants to get out of the car. "I'm telling you, I'm telling you! Keep your (expletive) hands right there," Days responds. "Eh, eh, Jerame, you reach for something, you're going to be (expletive) dead,"
As Reid attempts to exit the car, his hands apparently raised, Days shouts "He's reaching! He's reaching." Days and his partner Roger Worley quickly open fire—the South Jersey Times reports nine shots were fired—and Reid falls out of frame.
The car's driver, Leroy Tutt, was arrested without incident.
Reid had long criminal record and was convicted of shooting three New Jersey State Troopers as a teenager. From the South Jersey Times:
Reid was also arrested this summer on charges of obstruction, resisting arrest, possession of narcotics and failure to appear in Millville Municipal Court. Authorities said Days was one of the arresting officers at the time.
The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the use of deadly force in the fatal shooting. An autopsy was conducted the following day, but the results haven't been made public.
Protests have been held in Bridgeton since the shooting, with many protestors using the "Hands Up! Don't Shoot!" slogan popularized following the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The Bridgeton Police Department has placed both Days, who is black, and Worley, who is white, on leave pending an investigation by New Jersey prosecutors.