Once again, another highly trained officer of the law shot and killed a man after confusing a cell phone for a gun.
San Antonio police officer John Lee claimed he was in fear for his life when he killed Antoine Scott Thursday night in a parking lot of an apartment complex.
But San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, who has reviewed video and audio recordings of the shooting, said Lee didn’t even give Scott a chance.
According to My San Antonio:
The officer quickly approached and told Scott to “let me see your hands,” then almost immediately fired his service weapon, according to McManus.
“It was in the blink of an eye,” McManus said. “I listened to the audio, I watched the tape, and it happened very, very quickly.”
McManus said the officer, identified as John Lee, told investigators that Scott spun around quickly and that, believing Scott was holding a gun, feared for his life.
McManus told the news site that the dash cam was not pointed in the direction of the shooting and that the officer was not wearing a body cam.
Lee confronted Scott to arrest him on felony warrants for drugs and gun after receiving a call from a detective who had been trailing him. The detective was in plainclothes and wanted a uniformed officer to make the arrest.
The Texas cop pulled his patrol car perpendicular to Scott’s car. The emergency lights were on and both men stepped out.
Within seconds, Lee had shot Scott.
“There is some concern, but that will all come out in the investigation,” the chief said.
Earlier this week, a Florida man was awarded $23 million in damages after he was left paralyzed by a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy who confused his cell phone for a gun.
And in late December, a Las Vegas cop shot and killed a man holding a cell phone, thinking it was a gun.
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