New Video Shows Moments Before Police Fatally Shot Christian Taylor
Last night, a security company released surveillance footage purportedly showing some of the final minutes of Christian Taylor, the Angelo State football player shot and killed by police in Arlington, Texas on Friday.
The new video appears to largely corroborate the police account of the moments preceding Taylor’s death, showing a man wandering around a car dealership lot before crashing a vehicle into its glass showroom, but does not show the shooting itself or the confrontation authorities say provoked it.
According to WFAA, both police and the dealership’s monitoring company have said are no security cameras inside the showroom, only outdoors.
“We are looking at all available video from outside and inside the location to obtain as much information as possible,” said Arlington Police in a statement on Friday. “At this time, investigators have not located any video capturing the shooting.”
At a press conference Saturday night, Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson provided the most complete police account of the Taylor shooting yet. From The New York Times:
Chief Johnson said the police were called to a Classic Buick GMC dealership in Arlington shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, where they found Mr. Taylor “roaming freely” inside the showroom. A Jeep had crashed through the front window.
The officers ordered Mr. Taylor to lie down, and when he fled instead, they chased him. He was found trying to get out of the building through a locked glass door. Chief Johnson said that the two officers struggled with Mr. Taylor and that Officer Miller fired four shots.
Mr. Taylor was struck multiple times, Chief Johnson said, and was declared dead on the scene. Investigators later determined that he had no weapon.
The training officer fired no shots. A Taser was also used against Mr. Taylor, but Chief Johnson said the department had not determined which officer used it or in what sequence the two weapons were used.
At the same press conference, Johnson said he has asked the F.B.I. to help investigate the shooting.
“Our pledge is to provide answers in the most thorough and expeditious manner possible,” said Johnson, acknowledging that “this instance has not occurred in isolation, but rather has occurred as our nation is grappling with the problems of social injustice, inequities, racism and police misconduct.”