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Police shoots unarmed man who was begging for his life
Police release chilling bodycam footage of the moments before unarmed father-of-two was shot dead in a hotel by Arizona police officer - but crucially omits the moment he begged for his life
- Daniel Shaver, 26, was killed in the hotel he was staying in for work
- Cops in Mesa, Arizona, were told someone was pointing a gun in a window
- Officer 'ambushed Shaver's room, ordered him to crawl to him, shot him'
- Shaver 'was heard begging for his life'. He was unarmed when he was shot
- Footage released on Tuesday shows moments leading up to his death
- But crucially it omits the moment he begged for his life
- Judge ruled that parts of the video should remain sealed until trial is over
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Police in Arizona have released an edited bodycam video of the night an unarmed father was shot dead by cops, although it crucially omits the moment he was killed while begging for his life.
The shaky footage, published publicly on Tuesday, fails to show the moment Daniel Shaver, 26, was shot dead by officer Philip Brailsford in Mesa on January 18.
Shaver, a married father-of-two from Texas, was in the city for business relating to his work in pest control.
Police were called to his hotel after reports that someone was pointing a gun from a window on a high-up floor in La Quinta Inn & Suites on East Superstition Springs Boulevard.
Though Shaver carries two pellet guns with him for work, he was unarmed at the time.
In the footage released by police, all that can be seen or heard in the video is the armed response team ordering guests on the fifth floor to get out their rooms as they surrounded Room 502, Shaver's room.
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Daniel Shaver, 26, (pictured with his two daughters) was heard saying 'please don't shoot me' before he was killed in January
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Investigators said in police records and in court that the video shows Shaver on the ground outside his room as he is ordered to crawl toward officers and tearfully pleads with them not to kill him.
Officers at the scene say they believed Shaver was reaching for a gun.
No weapons were recovered from Shaver's body.
Investigators found two pellet rifles in the hotel room that were later determined to be part of his pest-control job.
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Officer Philip 'Mitch' Brailsford, pictured left in his armed response gear, has since been terminated from Mesa Police Department and charged with second-degree murder
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What is not shown is Shaver crawling towards police saying: 'Please don't shoot me', according to a witness who was also ordered to crawl. He reportedly kept trying to pull his shorts back up which were slipping down when he was crawling, according to PINAC.
Mesa Police Sergant Charles Langley then says: 'There is a very severe possibility that if you make another mistake you are going to get shot', according to a transcript of the footage that was read in court.
Langley then adds when Shaver tries to ask a question: 'Shut up. I'm not here to be tactful and diplomatic with you. You listen, you obey.'
Brailsford was later fired for violations of departmental policies.
The video shows Brailsford and other officers getting into a hotel elevator, listening to a sergeant voice a plan for getting Shaver and a woman out of the room, and waiting for several minutes as their calls for the pair to come out went unanswered.
'Listen to my instructions or it's going to become very uncomfortable for you,' one of the officers shouted.
Officers took cover in doorways as they waited for a response. Brailsford and another rifle-carrying officer at one point crouched down on their knees as they pointed their guns down the hallway.
When Shaver continues to try to pull his shorts back up, Brailsford then shot five times, killing him instantly.
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Laney Sweet, Shaver's widow (pictured with her husband and their two daughters), previously criticized the way police explained the incident claiming that it did not sound like something her husband would do
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz49gBzGPZQ
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