Former Oklahoma police officers charged with manslaughter in death of man shot 12 times
The graphic body cam video shows Quadry Sanders being shot multiple times while following the officer’s commands
Two former police officers with the Lawton Police Department in Comanche County, Oklahoma, are charged with first-degree manslaughter for killing an unarmed Black man during a shooting that was caught on camera.
Police released the disturbing body camera footage that shows former Lawton police officers Nathan Ronan, who is white, and Robert Hinkle, a Black man, fatally shooting Quadry Sanders on Dec. 5, the New York Times reports. The cops were responding to reports of a protective order violation when they shot Lawton 12 times near N.W. 18th St. and N.W. Lincoln Ave.
No mother wants to outlive their child. #QuadrySanders unarmed with his hands up, was shot 12 times and killed by the police in December 2021. With today’s release of video footage, his mother will be mourning on a day set aside to celebrate moms. pic.twitter.com/Hr8m50pWIZ
— Community Justice Action Fund (@CJACTIONFUND) May 7, 2022
According to a statement issued by Lawton Police Chief James T. Smith, the caller said Sanders was waving a gun inside the residence at 1806 N.W. Lincoln Avenue. He also allegedly refused to let one of the residents leave, local news station KSWO reported. When the two responding officers arrived at the scene, they requested that Sanders come out of the house. Once he exited the home, police claim that during their confrontation with Sanders he was shot.
The Lawton Police Department posted the bodycam footage on their YouTube page here. (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)
The video shows Sanders following the officer’s commands and raising his hands multiple times. Each time his hands go up, he is shot by both officers. Once Sanders falls to the ground, arms still raised, he’s shot again. EMS transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the district attorney’s office concluded that “the shooting of Quadry Sanders was not justified,” District Attorney Kyle Cabelka said in a statement to KSWO.
Ronan and Hinkle were fired from the police force in January after an internal investigation into Sanders’ killing was launched. Six months after Sanders’ death, both men are now facing criminal charges.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to the parents and those in our community who lost a loved one in Quadry Sanders,” Lawton Mayor Stan Booker said in a statement Friday, adding that “the loss of life in our community is always a difficult matter to grasp.”
Attorney Lee Merritt is representing Sanders’s family, and he noted on Instagram that he couldn’t “find a single redeemable factor that mitigates any aspect of this shooting.”
“It was just murder,” Merritt added. “There was no justification.”
Sanders leaves behind eight children.
According to multiple reports, Ronan was cleared of killing a Black man named Zonterious Johnson less than a year ago.
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