Two videos. Both show a cop could easily have run up and cuffed him. Instead they chose to execute him.
Every silent voice is guilty. This MUST end.
911 caller: Man in police shooting 'under the influence'
Cincinnati, Oh (2-19-16) Paul Gaston appeared to be “under the influence of something” as he drove Wednesday down Harrison Avenue “hitting other things,” a woman told a 911 dispatcher.
After he crashed his pickup into a utility pole, a second 911 caller said he stumbled out of the vehicle, “dropped a gun, and then picked up the gun and took off.”
Less than half an hour later, Cincinnati police officers shot and killed Gaston, 37, after officials said he reached for a gun in the waistband of his pants.
The weapon, which officials said was found at the scene, turned out to be a pellet gun designed to look like a real pistol. Cincinnati police Lt. Steve Saunders said it closely resembled a Springfield Armory XD pistol.
Three officers who were directly facing Gaston fired nine rounds, striking him multiple times, officials said. Two officers who stood to his left, one holding a semiautomatic rifle, did not fire.
A split second before gunshots rang out, one of the officers could be heard yelling to Gaston, “Don’t do it!”
Police Chief Eliot Isaac said he didn’t want to speculate on Gaston’s motives.
“I know the action that occurred,” Isaac said at a news conference. “Very tragic.”
He said the officers, who have been placed on administrative leave, “responded appropriately, according to their training.”
Officials are awaiting toxicology test results for Gaston. The Cincinnati police Criminal Investigations Section is conducting the investigation.
Police on Thursday released two separate videos of the shooting taken by eyewitnesses. The shooting happened in the city of Cheviot near the border with Westwood, where Gaston's pickup had crashed. He walked the length of two football fields, police said, into Cheviot.
The videos show the five officers pointing their weapons at Gaston, who initially is on his knees in the street, his hands clasped behind his head.
“Get on your face,” one officer says. “Get on the ground.”
A woman who recorded one of the videos from inside a car can be heard saying, “Please do what you’re asked. Please.”
Gaston, still on his knees, then puts his hands on the street, but doesn’t lie down. An officer twice shouts, “Keep your hands where we can see 'em.”
The video then shows Gaston straighten up and move his right hand toward his waistband.
The three officers who fired on Gaston were identified as Scott McManis, Zachary Sterbling and Eric Kohler. McManis has been with the department for more than 20 years. Kohler joined in 2006, and Sterbling joined in 2007.
http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2016/02/17/police-officer-involved-shooting-cheviot/80521794/
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