The Las Vegas police department, Highway Patrol and the FBI are investigating a police shooting that occurred on a crowded highway in broad daylight and left a man dead.
Last Friday, a driver stopped in traffic recorded the above video of officers shooting the man after he tried to climb into one of their cars.
You can hear the eight or nine shots being fired as the man, now identified as D’Andre Berghardt, opens the door to the police SUV.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Berghardt, from Los Angeles, had been hailing cyclists as he walked along state Route 159 near Calico Basin, about 20 miles from downtown Las Vegas. Two cyclists reported the man to officials at the Red Rock visitor center about noon.
Berghardt can be seen on the video escaping police, running away from them, and swinging to keep officers away. Eventually, one ranger sprays Berghardt with pepper spray. Berghardt stumbles and grabs his face, but the rangers don’t arrest him.
“It’s really interesting that they haven’t just kind of grabbed him. I guess they really want him to be compliant before they (arrest him),” says the man filming.
The other man replies, “Yeah, it doesn’t look like he’s being very erratic. They should have just grabbed him.”
Somehow, Berghardt escapes the officers again.
“Why don’t they just cuff him and be done with it?” one of the men in the video asks.
“You’d think,” the other replies. “They keep letting him get up and run away.”
When Berghardt finally approaches the police vehicle, they slam the car door on him. Another officer fires his gun, killing Berghardt at the scene. Authorities aren’t forthcoming about the incident, but police say Berghardt grabbed for the officer’s AR-15, which was locked in a gun rack in the car.
Joel Meyer, a visitor from Minnesota, was riding his bike at Red Rock on Friday. He said he was one of the last cyclists to pass Berghardt on the road before the rangers arrived.
“As I recall, he was walking in a straight line and was coherent,” Meyer said.
Berghardt tried to flag down Meyer’s group, he said, but no one stopped. Meyer said he is still wondering about that moment.
“Maybe he just wanted some water,” he said.
You can watch the disturbing video above.
SOURCE: Las Vegas Review Journal
