A Dallas police officer is on administrative leave while the department conducts an internal investigation into an officer-involved shooting that occurred last week.
On Thursday evening, dispatch alerted DPD that several men were drinking and shooting guns in an alley in the 9700 block of Rustown Drive, near Oates Drive and Ferguson Road.
Officers’ body cams caught the incident, and what it shows has led to concern not only from the community but from within the department itself.
“I’m thankful that no one was injured. However, after watching the bodycam footage, I have some concerns about the tactics which led to this shooting,” said police chief Eddie Garcia at a press conference Wednesday.
In the footage, officers can be seen approaching a group of men standing between a gas station and a laundromat. One man is sitting on the curb a little away from the others but is wearing an orange shirt and matches the description given to dispatch of someone pointing a weapon at passersby.
When the police call out to the man in orange, he jumps up and attempts to flee the scene. As officer Branson Grisham chases the man along the side of the laundromat, he yells for the man to “Let me see your [expletive] hands!”
As he rounds the corner of the building, officer Grisham pulls his service weapon and fires a shot at the man in orange, who was at this time standing still, facing the officer and raising his hands into the air.
Luckily no one was hit by the shot, and other officers then took the man in the orange shirt into custody. However, no weapons were found on him, and after being interviewed by detectives, he was released with no charges.
A grand jury will be the ones to decide if Officer Grisham will face legal charges in response to the shooting.
