Video shows officer shooting fleeing Fresno teen in the back of the head

Footage of Fresno, California, incident follows police claims that killing of unarmed Isiah Murrietta-Golding, 16, was justified

Sam Levin in Los Angeles

@SamTLevin Email
Fri 25 Oct 2019 06.40 EDT

Newly released video shows a Fresno, California, police officer shooting a fleeing, unarmed 16-year-old in the back of the head and then handcuffing the boy as he lies motionless on the ground.

Surveillance footage of the 14 April 2017 killing of Isiah Murrietta-Golding, released this week by the family’s attorney, has spread across the US, with critics calling it another example of extreme police brutality and unjustified lethal force that would have received little attention if lawyers hadn’t published the video.

The footage shows the teenager running from officers, jumping a fence, falling to the ground and continuing to flee. Murrietta-Golding was an estimated 35 feet away from the officers when one of them fired a single bullet into his head. The officer then hopped the fence, approached the boy’s limp body and handcuffed his hands behind his back.

The video comes after the police department in Fresno, a city in California’s Central Valley, refused to release the footage while publicly stating that the killing was “justified”, said Stuart Chandler, an attorney for Murrietta-Golding’s father.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/25/police-shooting-video-isiah-murrietta-golding-fresno-california