Murder: Hollywood Police Claimed They were Forced to Fatally Shoot an Armed Black Man but New Video Shows Cops Shoot Him in the Back as He Walked Away w/His Hands Up, Made No Other Effort to Stop Him

From [HERE] Five months after police in Broward County said they were forced to fire on a man who was armed during a confrontation, the man's family says new video tells a different story.

Donald Taylor, 32, was fatally shot by Hollywood Police in Miramar on Aug. 3, near Southwest 19th Street and 61st Avenue.

Detectives said they were trying to make contact with Taylor, who they accused of being involved in a string of violent crimes in Miramar and Hollywood, including a shooting and armed robbery.

When they spotted Taylor, he was armed and refused to listen to officers' commands, before the officers opened fire, officials said.

Taylor's family now has an attorney, and said the new video of the encounter doesn't match what police told the public.

In the video shared by the family's attorney, Taylor is seen walking away from officers with his hands raised and away from his body. The video ends just before Taylor falls to the ground.

Police said a gun was recovered at the scene, but have not released body camera video or identified the officer who fired that fatal shot.

“I can’t think of one thing that they could say or describe that he did off camera that would justify the 20 seconds that he’s on camera with his hands up, walking away and then shot in the back," said Erian White, the family's attorney. "We’ve seen many times, on camera, people accused of worst, terrible, terroristic crimes, and somehow, they are able to be taken into custody, and they are tried.”

Under Florida law police officers are authorized to use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon where the officer has probable cause to believe that the arrestee poses a threat of death or serious harm to the officers or to others. Specifically Fla. Stat. § 776.05 states,

A law enforcement officer, or any person whom the officer has summoned or directed to assist him or her, need not retreat or desist from efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. The officer is justified in the use of any force:

(1) Which he or she reasonably believes to be necessary to defend himself or herself or another from bodily harm while making the arrest;

(2) When necessarily committed in retaking felons who have escaped; or

(3) When necessarily committed in arresting felons fleeing from justice. However, this subsection shall not constitute a defense in any civil action for damages brought for the wrongful use of deadly force unless the use ofdeadly force was necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by such flight and, when feasible, some warning had been given, and:

(a) The officer reasonably believes that the fleeing felon poses a threat of death or serious physical harm to the officer or others; or

(b) The officer reasonably believes that the fleeing felon has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm to another person.

White believes the video raises serious questions about whether that legal standard was met, and now the family has demands.

However, in the lexi-icon the Florida law has codified the legal standard set forth by the Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Garner, 471 US 1 (1985). The Garner standard rule goes way beyond the natural law of self-defense. In Florida, an officer having probable cause to believe a suspect has committed a felony, may use the amount of force reasonably necessary to apprehend the suspect even to the extent of shooting and killing him. Shooting him/her will be justified where it is necessary to prevent the escape. To be clear here, the police may use deadly force where the person poses a threat to the public or the officer OR where “there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm.” According to the Supreme Court, an officer may infer that a person poses a future danger to others simply because he is suspected of having committed a forcible felony. Garner at 11. Thus, an escaping suspect does not need to pose a specific threat of harm against a person, let alone one that is imminent. Florida courts have explained “the fact that the person has not actually committed a felony or that no crime of any sort has been committed makes no difference, as long as the appearances are such as to lead a police officer to reasonably believe that a felony has been committed and the person he is about to arrest or apprehend is the person who committed the felony.”

In this case, it appeared that the cops had probable cause to believe that Taylor had committed various felonies. If they did, then the police could use deadly force to make an arrest. The only legal question would be whether the use of deadly force was reasonably necessary under the circumstances to prevent Taylor from escaping. According to the Garner standard, shooting a person in the back would be lawful where the fleeing felon arrestee would escape but for shooting him because he is too fast or too far away or entering an area where he could be lost to the police.

Under such analysis, from the video it looks like the cops made no other effort to stop Taylor other than shooting him. That is, the cops had an opportunity to chase him because he was in sight and not a far distance away from him and he was not running but walking. If so, then the cops committed murder. However, the entire interaction between cops and Taylor has not been made available by the government so the whole context is unknown until they do.

Don’t be mad at BW. The fact that cops can lawfully shoot people in the back in the lex-icon is evidence that so-called authority, which includes the so-called right of government agents to initiate unprovoked acts of violence, is evil and immoral. Nevertheless, physical coercion is the sole basis of our legal system. The belief in authority is slavery.

“They would like to know the name of the officer that fired the fatal shot, the names of the officers on scene and an arrest is what should be happening at this point,” White said.

NBC6 has reached out to Hollywood Police about the newly released video, but was deferred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which has taken over the investigation.