A new case of police violence is causing a stir in the USA. A police officer shot and killed a 27-year-old in his car in the city of Philadelphia.
On Friday, the responsible public prosecutor’s office published video footage of the incident, which had already occurred in mid-August. The footage shows how the police officer left his emergency vehicle, ran to the young man’s car and fired several shots at him through the window of the car.
The Philadelphia police had originally provided different information about how the incident unfolded, claiming, among other things, that the 27-year-old was shot outside his car after he attacked the police with a knife. According to the police, the officers became aware of the car through reckless driving maneuvers and therefore followed the man.
Prosecutor: Video recordings speak for themselves
The police officer who fired the shots turned himself in to the authorities on Friday and now faces charges of manslaughter, among other things, the public prosecutor’s office announced. Prosecutor Larry Krasner said the video footage speaks for itself. A lawyer for the officer described the action against his client as wrong. The police officer was initially suspended from duty after the incident.
Deadly police operations of a similar nature occur regularly in the USA. A representative example of this is the case of George Floyd, which triggered national protests a few years ago: In May 2020, the African American died in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. Videos documented how police officers pushed the unarmed man to the ground. White officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes while Floyd pleaded to let him breathe. The case led to nationwide protests against police violence and racism.
