On Oct. 14th, Dallas police responding to a call shot a mentally ill man holding a knife in the middle of the street.
The officer who shot the man in the abdomen claimed that the man walked towards him and raised the weapon. But new surveillance video is showing something a little different. Bobby Gerald Bennett was standing still the entire time.
According to WFAA:
The surveillance video, given to News 8 by neighbor Maurice Bunch, shows Bobby Gerald Bennett, 53, walk out of the garage of his mother’s home at 9452 Crimnson Court at noon. He begins pacing the street.
At 12:05 p.m., Bennett retrieves a swivel chair from the garage and sits in the middle of the block. He gets up and talks to Bunch and returns to the chair at 12:08 p.m. Bennett sits still in the chair until a single police cruiser arrives at 12:19 p.m. It’s not clear whether he is holding the knife at this point.
Ofc. Cardan Spencer and a witnessing officer exit the police car and slowly walk toward Bennett, who pushes the chair backward a few feet. He then stands up straight and the two officers draw their weapons. The officers stop about 20 feet from him. Eight seconds after pulling their guns, Spencer fires and Bennett crumples over and falls to the ground. An affidavit says Spencer fired his weapon four times, striking Bennett once in the abdomen.
Bunch, who witnessed the entire incident from his driveway, told WFAA News that Bennett froze when officers told him to.
“He did not move an inch, in suspended animation; he just stood there, you know? Bobby was conscious, he knew exactly what he was doing because I had been talking to him prior.”
Bunch insists that the officers were trying to kill his neighbor.
Police are aware of the video and made this statement regarding the shooting.
We are in the very early stages of conducting a thorough criminal investigation of this incident. Once we complete the criminal investigation we will refer our findings to the Dallas County District Attorney’s office […] We will then begin the administrative investigation to determine whether our deadly force policy was violated.
As for Bennett, he remains in the hospital in the intensive care unit.
SOURCE: WFAA
