We all remember the fateful death of Walter Scott, captured on video for all to see. He died as he was running away from the police officer who eventually shot him.
Cut to now, 2017, and we have yet another instance of an black man being shot by police while he's trying to get away.
Warning: Images are very explicit and graphic in nature.
Per the Independent UK, body camera footage has been released showing Salt Lake City officers fatally shooting Patrick Harmon as he was running away. The 50-year-old black man was initially pulled over in mid-August for riding a bicycle without a light.
The police officers claimed that Harmon had a knife (which was found at the scene) and they feared for their lives. The video didn't capture Harmon threatening the cops with a knife, however. The video does show one of the officers, Clinton Fox, screaming, “I’ll f*cking shoot you” before firing three shots toward Harmon's back.
Fox claims Harmon said, "I'll cut you," and turned to the officers with a knife which, made Fox "terrified by how close [he] was to the officers.” Fox said it was the “scariest situation he had ever been in.”
After being shot, Harmon was tased and handcuffed. As officers handle his body, you can hear one of the officers saying “Patrick, stay with us." Harmon was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to VICE, charges were dropped against the officers; despite the video, their deadly actions were found to be justified.
“They just murdered him flat out,” said Harmon's niece, Alisha Shaw to The Guardian. “They are lying. There is no way they were threatened by anything. He was only trying to get away.”
“It’s just brutal," added local Black Lives Matter organizer Lex Scott. “How could anyone with eyes and ears believe that that officer was justified?”