Referred to Committee on . Hunter Brittain dreamed of a career in professional racing . All rights reserved. More than a month after a Lonoke County deputy shot and killed 17-year-old Hunter Brittain, officials have yet to release body camera footage amid a national conversation about police. Instead, [Staley] fired Davis for not recording the crime, instead of for committing the crime, attorneys Ben Crump and Devon Jacob said in a statement after the sentencing. What we know definitively is that an Arkansas sheriff's deputy shot and killed him at 3 a.m. last Wednesday. ", Print Headline: Video still withheld after Lonoke County deputys fatal shooting of teen. Details about when the camera was turned on and what the footage captured are unknown to the public. Members get daily listing updates. Supporting the Arkansas Times' independent journalism is more vital than ever. Hunter was a 17-year-old kid who had the right to live, had the right to go on to graduate high school and had the right to be protected by law enforcement not shot dead by them. It's almost a week later, and Brittain's family still has no straight answers from the Lonoke County sheriff's office. Did he charge at the officer? A Sheriff's Deputy Shot and Killed Him", "Lonoke deputy shoots, kills youth after traffic stop UPDATE", "Cousin of teen killed by deputy walks with American flag to remember last moments alive", "Arkansas deputy fired after fatally shooting teen; body camera wasn't on, sheriff says", "Deputy who shot Arkansas teen fired for leaving body cam off", "Al Sharpton eulogizes white Arkansas teen shot by deputy", "Arkansas teen killed by deputy leads supporters to propose 'Hunter's Law', "Arkansas deputy sentenced to one year for teen's traffic stop death", "Former deputy found guilty of negligent homicide in Arkansas teen's death", "Former Lonoke County Sheriff's Deputy sentenced for the death of unarmed teen", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Hunter_Brittain&oldid=1128684088, Law enforcement controversies in the United States, People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Lawsuit filed against Davis by Brittain's family, This page was last edited on 21 December 2022, at 11:51. Hunter Brittain. According to Crump, the families wanted to know if Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson supported Hunters Lawa proposed reform which would require law enforcement agencies in the state to provide police officers with body-mounted cameras while also requiring officers to activate their body-mounted cameras from the beginning of their shift to the end. Homepage. More than a month after a Lonoke County deputy shot and killed 17-year-old Hunter Brittain, officials have yet to release body camera footage amid a national conversation about police transparency. Davis was fired by Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley a week after the shooting for breaking a policy that requires that the body camera be turned on before deputies interact with the public. Crump invoked other police slaying cases hed joined George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Christian Hall and Hunter Brittain. The Lonoke County Sheriff's Office said it has turned the investigation of the shooting over to Arkansas State Police. The release of body camera footage can help build public trust, he said. - A memorial service was held Wednesday for Hunter Brittain, the 17-year-old who was gunned down last month by a Lonoke County sheriff's deputy during a routine traffic stop. Jeff Phillips, 5th Judicial District prosecutor, was named the special prosecutor for the case July 12. He urged all to unite behind equal justice for all races.. This conforms to the pattern of police killings worldwide. Hundley said he spoke with Hunter at about 7 pm the night before his death. Jacob echoed that most jurisdictions in the nation would make such information available, and that it is important that government bodies disclose the truth to the public. Are people going to have to fear for their lives again?. The horrific death of young Hunter Brittain sadly shows us that no one is safe until there is true police reform and accountability. Alexander Anderson Atkinson Bailey Ballentine Bannister Bauer Beach Blackwell Bradley Brewer Brittain Burns Bustos Calhoon Carter Caskey Chapman Chumley Clyburn Cobb-Hunter Collins Connell B. J. Cox B. L. Cox Crawford Cromer Davis Dillard Elliott Erickson Felder Forrest Gagnon Garvin Gibson Gilliam Gilliard Guest Guffey Haddon Hager Hardee . Davis, 31, was charged with felony manslaughter after the . This tragedy has gone unreported in the New York Times, the principal media voice of the Democratic Party, Jacobin magazine, which is linked to the Democratic Socialists of America, and Liberation News, the online newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. We've received your submission. The teen exited his truck to place a blue plastic bottle of antifreeze behind a wheel because the vehicle wouldn't shift into park, according to a previously released statement. Al Sharpton is an MSNBC columnist and civil rights leader. It is long past time that we end qualified immunity, which shields police officers from being held personally accountable in civil lawsuits. We must go. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 23, Davis initiated a traffic stop after seeing a white GMC pick-up truck smoking, whereupon Brittain immediately exited his vehicle, moved to the rear of his vehicle, as it was rolling backwards towards the front of Daviss patrol vehicle, to reach into the bed of the truck to retrieve a bright blue anti-freeze container. He says hes been working on this truck but hes trying to make it., Brittains grandmother, Rebecca Payne, was present at the protest. Davis radioed dispatch that shots had been fired and requested assistance. Places. . If the Senate wont pass reform legislation, then more pressure should be put on the president if the legislature doesnt act. "It can be done in a way that it protects the evidence and protects the officer and the family.". Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Nothing from CNN nor MSNBC. And he said if the deputy had enough time to shoot, he had enough time to turn on the body camera., And, yes, Sharpton said, he is seeking publicity. 1302 Brittain Rd is . Protesters gathered outside the Lonoke County Sheriffs Office last Wednesday in Lonoke, Arkansas, consisting of friends and family of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain, who was gunned down by police during a traffic stop early that morning. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Brittains passenger said the pair had been working on the trucks transmission. The Arkansas State Police, the investigating agency, and Lonoke County prosecutor Chuck Graham initially denied verbal requests for the body camera footage in the days after the shooting. He was told by doctors that his nephew had been hiding in the woods and shooting at cops. There is a witness to Brittain's shooting. Comforting grieving families and speaking at funerals for victims of police brutality never gets any easier. Davis was sentenced to a year on his conviction, which he is appealing. List My Home for Rent. If youre for Biden, wear your Biden button and keep marching. It is legal for officials to deny body camera footage because of an ongoing criminal investigation, Robert Steinbuch, professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and co-author of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, said Thursday. Redfin Premier. Michael Davis shot Hunter Brittain during a June 23 traffic stop outside an auto repair shop Andrew Demillo, Associated Press file Attorney Ben Crump stands next to Hunter Brittain's casket. On June 30, the families of Marquis Martin and Hunter Brittain rallied at the state capital in Little Rock demanding justice be administered for both victims. However, Davis, after allegedly issuing commands, fired one round, piercing Brittains arm and striking him in the lower-right neck. Dont believe it. They didnt say one word that I know of, King said. -- Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorneys Ben Crump and Devon Jacob issued the following statement following the firing of Sergeant . Just two days after Brittains death, 23-year-old Dimitri Lanahan was also shot dead by police near Fairbanks, Alaska, after brandishing a fake gun. As in all the cases I have taken, it isnt just about Black or white; its about whats right and wrong. AND SECTION 12-8-595, ALL RELATING TO THE WITHHOLDING OF INCOME TAXES, SO AS TO UPDATE A REFERENCE TO THE TOP MARGINAL INCOME TAX RATE. Introduction. It's time they start letting us know something.". It also enables footage to be redacted if it depicts a person's death, unless it was caused by police. "It goes back to the narrative that law enforcement is a good-old-boy system, and they will do whatever they can to protect their own, and what is needed is transparency," Abdul-Bey said. A passenger and another witness said they didnt hear Davis order the teen to show his hands. Tennessee's 2017 law provides that law enforcement body-camera videos of specifically named situations be treated as confidential, such as videos taken of minors at school. I didnt hear it and it happened so fast., King explained that a second police officer arrived at the scene and detained him. I delivered the eulogy for Hunter at a packed auditorium at Beebe High School in Beebe, Arkansas. This was the first time I was invited to speak at a service where the victim was white, but as soon as I received the call about Hunters death, I immediately said yes. Davis,. The stop ended in the shooting death of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain. The police cannot be reformed within the framework of capitalism. This is what determines the prevalence of right-wing and racist views within police departments, as well as the fact that minorities, disproportionately among the most impoverished sections of the working class, are disproportionately among their victims. "There is no national standard," said Alissa Marque Heydari, deputy director for the Institute of Innovation in Prosecution at the college. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. Noted civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Devin Jacob were retained by Brittain's family in the days after the shooting as the case drew national attention. Name Change Of Hunter Dean Brittain. [emphasis added. The family's legal team, which . Phillips did not respond to a follow-up email sent Thursday by the Democrat-Gazette asking for additional details about why the footage has not been released along with possible timelines of when it could be. It is simply unconscionable that this is the reality in the most powerful advanced nation in the world. The civil rights leader and the high-profile attorney, who Sharpton has dubbed "Black America's Attorney general," deemed the police shooting of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain "one of the most. "Some say that body camera is a part of an investigation file and exempt from FOI [Freedom of Information Act release]," he said.