Father Begs Not to Be Shot Moments Before He Was Gunned Down by Cop in Hotel Hallway
A former Arizona cop has been acquitted in the fatal shooting of a sobbing, unarmed man at hotel in January 2016.
The verdict, released Thursday, cleared former officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, of criminal liability in the 2016 death of Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas.
In newly revealed video of the incident inside a La Quinta Inn in Phoenix, Shaver begs not to be shot in the hallway. Brailsford could be heard saying in the shocking footage that if he made one false move, he would open fire.
Shaver, a guest in the hotel, is seen begging and sobbing. As Brailsford tells Shaver to crawl toward him, the guest reached for his waist and the cop opened fire, believing the man was reaching for a weapon.
Shaver was unarmed. The father of two was just pulling up his basketball shorts.
Shaver, who worked as an exterminator, was in town on a business trip. He was drinking in his room, when the hotel desk clerk called 911 to report somebody was pointing a gun out the window of room 502.
When police got there, they ordered Shaver out. With him was a young woman he had met at the hotel.
In the video, Shaver appears confused and disoriented. Police told Shaver to keep his hands in the air, cross his legs and crawl towards them, which is not so easy to do — even if you're sober.
Retired police officer Steve Kardian studied the video for Inside Edition, and said he would have approached the situation differently.
"The way I was taught — tell him put his hands up — turn around, so we get a look at his waist the high-risk areas," he told Inside Edition. "Then, I would have him walk backwards on your knees and then I would make my arrest. It's closer. It’s safer,"
Shaver's heartbroken wife, Laney, is calling his death "an execution, pure and simple."
“What happened was wrong and I hope one day justice will come and the police department will give me answers [about] why they killed him,” she said.
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