Both officers are on administrative leave.
Video from Fox2 News.
Fox pixelated the video out of regard for your sensitivity (uh-huh) at the moment the officers shoot. HuffPo is currently showing the full length video (from YouTube) without censor. The man filming is commenting. Other police come on the scene and push everybody back where they can't come close, but one witness had already gotten the whole thing on his cell phone camera.
The video is also currently up on YouTube with a warning. It may get taken down. You may not want to watch it.St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said Tuesday that both of the officers opened fire on Powell when he came within a three or four feet of them holding a knife "in an overhand grip."
But the newly released cell phone footage undermines the statement, showing Powell approaching the cops, but not coming as close as was reported, with his hands at his side. The officers began shooting within 15 seconds of their arrival, hitting Powell with a barrage of bullets.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released the video and 911 calls, telling St. Louis Public Radio that it plans to act transparently.
The shooting death occurred less than four miles from where Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer in the suburb of Ferguson on Aug. 9.
HuffPo
Lemon and fellow CNN host Chris Cuomo asked Dotson whether police could have done something else, such as using a taser, particularly since the man was known to have psychological issues.
"Certainly a taser is an option that's available to the officers, but tasers aren't 100 percent," Dotson said. "So you've got an individual with a knife who's moving towards you, not listening to any verbal commands, continues, says, 'shoot me now, kill me now.' Tasers aren't 100 percent. if that taser misses, that [individual] continues on and hurts an officer."
"In a lethal situation, they used lethal force," Dotson said.
HuffPo
UPDATE 8/24 PM: Yet more Ferguson police horror stories
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