Footage shows NYPD officers fired 16 times at unarmed black teen as he surrendered
While the NYPD claimed that 15-year-old Keston Charles was threatening them with a gun when they shot him in 2013, newly released video shows otherwise.
It was reported that the teen was threatening officers with a toy gun he had carried with him to threaten another boy when they shot him. Video shows the teen running from the cops, limping and then putting his hands up in surrender. There is no sign of the gun in his hands.
Charles survived the shooting and served 18 months of probation in connection with the altercation with police. At this time, he is trying to get his GED.
“I was scared for my life. I was trying to get away,” he said of the incident. “I never been shot at before.”
He was hit by three bullets, two of those times were while he was surrendering at the door to his apartment building in Brooklyn. Charles is currently suing Officer Jonathan Rivera over his injuries.
The lawyer for the City, Elissa Jacobs, stated Charles “did not put his hands up to surrender before any round of shots,” a statement that does not match the video evidence.
Court documents state that officials said due to the fact that Charles was only hit three times, it showed “how fast he continued to move and that the threat to public safety had not been abated.”
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