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Body camera footage released in the shooting death of Jason Walker by off-duty deputy

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

In Fayetteville, N.C., new body camera footage was released today. It was taken after an off-duty sheriff's deputy shot and killed Jason Walker, a Black man, last Saturday. Jason deBruyn of WNYC reports.

JASON DEBRUYN, BYLINE: In the footage, a man identifies Jason Walker as his son and tells a police officer that Walker ran in the road, jumped on the hood of a truck, tore off a windshield wiper and used it to hit the windshield.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And I was trying to get him to come back over here. And I called him and said, come back, Jason. And he came out into the street.

DEBRUYN: He's holding a cellphone and motioning toward where Walker crossed the street.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: He was out here in the daggone (ph) street when that fella drove up.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Two-four-eight (unintelligible).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Jumped up on the guy's hood, and the guy jumped out and said he was going to shoot (ph).

DEBRUYN: Walker was shot last Saturday by Jeffrey Hash, a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy who was off duty at the time. The eyewitness account largely matches what Hash told 911 operators at the time.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEFFREY HASH: I was driving down the road, and he came flying across Bingham Drive, running. And then I stopped so I wouldn't hit him. And he jumped on my car and started screaming.

DEBRUYN: Hash's wife and daughter were also in the pickup truck. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing Walker's family. At a vigil on Thursday night, he spoke at a Fayetteville church, saying it should have been a trained officer's duty to deescalate the situation.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BEN CRUMP: He was supposed to be trained to protect and serve life, not to take life.

DEBRUYN: Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins petitioned the court to release the body camera footage. In North Carolina, police camera footage is released only after a judge's order. Protesters will take to the streets again tonight.

Kathy Greggs is the co-founder and president of the advocacy group Fayetteville PACT, or the Police Accountability Community Taskforce. She's been pushing for citizen review boards who can review these incidents and make recommendations.

KATHY GREGGS: And they can make a determination independent and away from the internal affairs of if violations happened with the police and decide reprimands.

DEBRUYN: Jason Walker leaves behind a 14-year-old son.

For NPR News, I'm Jason deBruyn. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Jason deBruyn
Jason deBruyn is the WUNC data reporter, a position he took in September, 2016.