A man killed by police gunfire in New Orleans East earlier this month shot at the New Orleans Police Department officers before they fired back, body camera footage released Tuesday (May 28) shows.
Donald Davis, Jr., 40, was killed in the shootout with police in the 6800 block of Parc Brittany Boulevard on May 17. NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said 7th District officers were called that morning to investigate a report of an aggravated assault at an apartment complex’s leasing office when they encountered an armed man.
Note: Check back with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune for the video footage.
Three responding officers, who have all been on the force somewhere between three to five years, fired their weapons during the encounter, according to NOPD. The officers fired a total of 31 rounds, Ferguson said. They struck Davis more than once and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ferguson said investigators did not learn until meeting with Davis’ family to review the footage that he has a history of diagnosed mental health problems.
Body camera video shows a verbal exchange ahead of the gunfire. Ferguson said Davis yelled something to the effect of, “Shoot me. I dare you.”
Ferguson said the officers were forced to respond “within seconds” after Davis began approaching them and fired at the officers. Video shows about six or seven seconds passed between when officers got out of the car and when Davis fired the shot, which appeared to strike a pickup truck the officers were moving toward to take cover.
“He didn’t give us a chance to say any words and trust us, we wish that he had,” Davis said. “This didn’t have to turn out this way but, again, we were left with no other options.”
No officers were injured during the exchange. The trio of officers were temporarily reassigned to administrative desk duty while the investigation continued, per NOPD standard practice. On Tuesday, Ferguson said they would likely be returning to their regular assignments later this week.
“In this case, while a life was unfortunately lost, we are confident our officers acted within departmental policies, and while difficult, they did what they had to do,” Ferguson said.
The body camera footage was released Tuesday under a department policy that gives NOPD leaders and investigators a total of nine days to review and decide when and how to release any pertinent video, a decision that involves the city attorney, district attorney’s office and U.S. Attorney’s office.
via nola.comhttps://www.nola.com
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