Oakland officer videotapes his killing of suspect

In a Bay Area first, a fatal shooting by police in East Oakland was captured on video - not by a bystander with a camcorder or a smart phone but by the officer himself, who wore a city-issued camera on his chest. [...]

The shooting happened shortly before 5 p.m. on the 9900 block of Cherry Street. Police officials said the trouble began when two officers, who have not been identified, pulled over a car for an unspecified violation, only to watch the passenger flee on foot. One officer caught the suspect, who had a gun and drugs, and shot him during a struggle, police said. [...]

After the shooting, neither the officer nor his partner was allowed to view the footage from the camera before speaking to investigators, said sources familiar with the matter. [...]

"This is not a tool to work against us," she said, "but a tool to help us, to bring clarity to what happened in a situation." She added, "You can't change the facts of a video." [...]

Michael Risher, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in San Francisco, said, "In any investigation, it is not a good practice to show a tape to a witness before an interview. ... I think any police officer will tell you that."

Previously.