DALLAS -- The lawyer for a black man shot by a Texas officer said Wednesday that the man had posed no threat to police. The remarks came a day after lawyer Nate Washington released a police dashboard-camera video that appears to show his client walking away as the officer fired.
David Collie was shot in the back, leaving him paralyzed, Washington said Wednesday. Police said at the time of the July encounter that a Fort Worth officer fired twice, striking Collie "once in the lower torso."
The officer and a Tarrant County sheriff's deputy with him were off duty at the time and were working a security detail at an apartment complex, Washington said.
Police were searching for two shirtless black men who they believed had committed a robbery near a gas station, Washington said. Authorities said in a news release they issued at the time that Collie pulled a box cutter from his pocket and pointed it at the officers.
Collie was charged with aggravated assault on a public servant, but a grand jury declined to indict him.
Fort Worth police on Wednesday defended the actions of the officers, whom they have not named. Sgt. Marc Povero said in a statement that Collie failed to comply with commands to stop and that he appeared to point a silver object at the deputy, consistent with earlier reports by the robbery victim that a suspect flashed a silver handgun.
Washington said Collie was not involved in the robbery. A box cutter found nearby didn't belong to Collie, Washington said.
The shooting occurred late at night and darkness obscures Collie's actions, but the video seems to show him pointing in another direction as he walks away. It is not clear whether there was anything in his hand.
Povero said a department review of the shooting had been completed, but he declined to discuss the outcome.
The officer who shot Washington has since returned to duty, Povero said. Povero declined to disclose the race of the officer.
The 33-year-old Collie was walking from work to a friend's apartment when the officers approached him in their patrol vehicle, Washington said. The video appears to show the Fort Worth officer firing his weapon about 10 seconds after exiting the vehicle and as Collie walked away.
The video was obtained about three weeks ago from the Tarrant County district attorney's office through an open-records request, Washington said. The attorney released the video Tuesday at a news conference. He said he did so at Collie's insistence because Collie was tired of comments made to his mother by people who assumed he must have done something wrong.
Washington said Collie wanted to make clear he "didn't do anything to threaten an officer."
The two officers argued over the decision to fire on Collie, Washington said, and the deputy prayed with him as he was on the ground.
A Section on 12/29/2016