Dash-cam Video Shows Unarmed Man on Bike Shot by Fla. Deputy
The video, recorded by the deputy’s dash-cam, shows Dontrell Stephens, 20, riding a bike and talking on a cellphone. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Adams Lin was following him. He later said he was suspicious of Stephens because he hadn’t seen him in the neighborhood before, the Post reported.
Lin, who is of Asian descent, said he was not racially profiling Stephens, who is black.
After Stephens realizes he’s being followed, WPTV reported, he pulls over, gets off his bike and walks toward the deputy. For about four seconds, Stephens is off-camera, only to be seen again when being shot four times.
Stephens, who has a criminal record for cocaine possession, is seen running from the officer, then
dropping to the ground. He was paralyzed from the waist down.
An internal investigation and the State Attorney’s Office cleared Lin in the case, ruling that the shooting
was justified.
The video came to light as part of a yearlong joint investigation of the Post and WPTV, examining every officer-involved shooting in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast since 2000.
The report comes on the heels of a police shooting in South Carolina that was recorded on a cellphone by a bystander, and protests in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.
On Thursday, the family of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager shot dead by a white police officer, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, Mo.
