And Again

[Content Note: Police brutality; racism; death. Video may autoplay at link.]

In El Cajon, near San Diego, a Black man, whose name has not been released who has been identified as Alfred Olango, was fatally shot by officers who were called to the scene after reports there was a man behaving erratically. This is the police version of events:

The man, 30, who has not been identified, was first reported to be walking in and out of traffic in the middle of the street and "not acting like himself," when a woman police believe may be the man's sister called officers for help just after 1 p.m. Tuesday.

El Cajon Police Chief Jeff Davis said that when officers arrived on scene and located the man he "refused multiple instructions by the first officer on the scene," and put his hands in his pants pocket.

He allegedly pulled an object and held it out "like he would be firing a gun," Davis said during a press conference on Tuesday night.

"At one point the male rapidly drew an object from his front pants pocket, placed both hands together on it, and extended it rapidly toward the officer taking what appeared to be a shooting stance putting the object in the officer's face," Davis said.

...Shortly after the shooting, a witness came forward and told officers she had video footage of the incident, Davis said. The witness "voluntarily provided" the cell phone video to the department and gave written consent for officers to use it.

And how have they used it? To release a single still image that seems to confirm their story that the man was pointing something at him. We of course have no idea whether that screenshot has been taken out of context, e.g. in the middle of a continuous action of moving his arms, because the police won't release the entire video "as it is part of an ongoing investigation."

That is some bullshit, right there. They won't release the whole video, but have already released a single still image from it that, at a casual glance, seems to confirm their version of events.

And maybe the whole video would confirm their version of events! But we don't know, because they won't release the whole video.

In a familiar turn of events, witness accounts differ from the police account:

Meantime, other videos quickly surfaced showing the aftermath, according to the AP. In one posted to Facebook, an unidentified woman is heard telling police at the scene that the man was ordered to take his hand out of his pocket.

"I said: 'Take your hand out your pocket, baby, or they're going to shoot you.' He said 'no, no, no,'" the woman said. "When he lifted his hand out ... he did have something in his hand but it wasn't no gun, and that's when they shot him."

My condolences to the man's family, friends, and community. My solidarity with them as they try to get answers. Goddammit.