DETROIT – Six seconds. That is the amount of time a Detroit police officer had from opening his door, to making the split second decision to use deadly force.
“For an officer to use fatal force, it is a decision that many times is made a hair of a second,” said Detroit police chief James Craig.
The fatal shooting happened last Thursday.
“It is a very difficult place to be and I would ask your viewers put yourself in that officer’s shoes just for one second,” added Craig.
Detroit police in car and body cameras can put you in the officer’s shoes. Police were watching a man wanted for shooting four teens earlier this month. The teenagers were listed in critical and temporary serious conditions, until one 18-year-old victim died over the weekend as a result of their injuries, according to Chief Craig.
Police watched the man enter a vehicle with three other men, and then the chase was on. Hitting a police cruiser, driving the wrong way down a street, driving on the sidewalk and almost hitting people.
When they crashed, the officers could see a gun in the man’s hand. Then as he’s running, the gun is pointed back at officers more than once. The chief says the officer feared for his life.
“Right there, stop. There you can clearly see he is pointing the weapon directly at our officer,” said Craig.
Craig believes the officer in the fatal shooting last week made the right call.
“The officer took a risk because another was there, he took a risk,” said Craig.
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