Two California cops who shot and unarmed man earlier this year, then continued shooting him after he fell down clutching his abdomen will not face criminal charges.
Fresno police officers Raymond Camacho and Robert Chavez pulled over Dylan Noble on June 25, suspecting him of walking down the street with a rifle in his hand, even though it was obvious from their body cam footage he was not carrying a rifle.
He was, however, holding a a 4-inch plastic container with malleable clay in his right hand, which struck fear in the hearts of the two officers who had pulled him over.
The 19-year-old man also continued to walk back and forth and would at times place the plastic container behind his back.
“I hate my fucking life,” Noble yells before an officer shoots him twice, causing him to fall to the ground.
Then when he did not keep his hands in the air as he lay on his back dying – clutching his abdomen instead – they shot him again.
“Quit reaching for what you got!” one cop yells. “If you reach one more time, you will be shot again.”
Noble can be seen trying to keep his hands in the air, but he also moves them back to his abdomen, which is a natural reaction by anybody shot in the abdomen, so he was shot again.
An autopsy determined Noble was legally drunk with a blood alcohol content of .12. He also had traces of cocaine in his system, according to the Los Angeles Times.
After an internal investigation determined the officers did nothing wrong earlier this month, the Fresno County District Attorney’s announced a week later that no criminal charges will be filed.
According to ABC 30:
In a two-page press release, the DA’s Office made it clear it will not file criminal charges against Raymond Camacho and Robert Chavez. The office said there was no sufficient evidence to prove both officers engaged in criminal conduct.
“I can’t say I’m shocked, I’m disappointed,” said Stuart Chandler, attorney for Noble’s mother.
Chandler believes the statement in the release saying, in part, “it is not the role of the District Attorney’s Office to determine civil negligence” implies that even they know there was wrongdoing.
“I don’t know if that was a statement that was required to be in there, but reading between the lines by putting that in there and by making this press release comes out on a late Friday afternoon suggests to me that the District Attorney’s Office, that something seriously wrong happened in the killing of Dylan Noble.”
But District Attorney, Lisa Smittcamp, told us after putting in hundreds of hours into the investigation, “The bottom line is Dylan Noble was killed that day, but it wasn’t murdered. The facts and the law were analyzed and there’s no way we could prove a murder beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
“However you want to slice it or dice it or cut, they pulled him over for a traffic stop and he ended up dead unarmed,” said Warren Paboojian, attorney for Noble’s father.
So yes, it certainly does appear the district attorney’s office is suggesting that the city can be civilly liable for Noble’s death.
It was only last month that it settled another lawsuit for $2.2 million in a case where they killed a man by shooting him in the back
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