Mesa, AZ, Will Pay $8 Million to Widow of Unarmed Man Shot and Killed While Crawling to Police
“instead of handcuffing Shaver, officers—bizarrely—started barking confusing and contradictory orders at him to crawl toward them”
In Januray of 2016, a man named Daniel Shaver was shot and killed by police in Mesa, Arizona. Shaver was unarmed and trying to comply with seemingly conflicting orders from police that he crawl towards them.
This was a horrible abuse of power by the police, but interestingly, there were no riots or even protests over it.
Reason reports:
Arizona Town To Pay $8 Million to Widow of Daniel Shaver, Shot While Crawling Unarmed Toward Police
The Arizona Republic reports that the town of Mesa, Arizona, reached an $8 million settlement last week with the widow of Daniel Shaver. Shaver is the unarmed man who was fatally shot while crawling down a hallway on his hands and knees toward police officers, begging them not to shoot him.
In January 2016, Mesa police responded to a report of a man pointing a rifle out of a hotel window. It was in fact Shaver showing a pellet gun that he used at his exterminator job to a couple other hotel guests in his room.
Police ordered Shaver out of the hotel room and onto the ground, with his hands behind his head. But instead of handcuffing Shaver, officers—bizarrely—started barking confusing and contradictory orders at him to crawl toward them. As a clearly terrified and drunk Shaver tried to crawl toward the police, he appeared to reach toward his waistband to pull up his sagging shorts. A Mesa officer, Philip Mitchell Brailsford, shot Shaver five times with an AR-15, killing him.
The incident was part of a string of deadly police shootings of unarmed men caught on camera, including the killings of Philando Castille and Walter Scott*. Shaver’s death brought national media attention and bipartisan outrage to Mesa. As David French wrote in National Review, “I have seen soldiers deal with al Qaeda terrorists with more professionalism and poise.”
Nobody rioted over this one, but it was one of the worst. https://t.co/BTfrzDb84e
— Noah Smith
(@Noahpinion) December 5, 2022
This is a video of the shooting. WARNING: GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING:
Never forget Daniel Shaver. pic.twitter.com/QRIObjgLA3
— Saber (@Aquawaffle) December 5, 2022
People are upset that the officer in this case still got his pension.
The officer was able to retire with full pension, on medical leave from the distress of murdering Daniel Shaver.
One of the worst atrocities against a single man, ever committed in this nation’s history. https://t.co/g6Ajxz1Fbj
— Alexander Rogers (@ConFalseFlag) December 6, 2022
Single worst police shooting of an innocent unarmed man in American history. All on video. Not a single word from the media, no protests, no golden casket, and the killer will receive 31k a year for the rest of his life. https://t.co/QoLgbndjMQ
— 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕿𝖆𝖓𝖐 (@RickFerran) December 5, 2022
NBC News reported in 2019:
Police officer who fatally shot sobbing man temporarily rehired to apply for pension
A former Mesa, Arizona, police officer who was acquitted two years ago in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man seen on video pleading “please do not shoot me” was temporarily rehired by his department last year so he could apply for an accidental disability pension.
Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 28, is now retired from the force with a tax-free pension worth $31,000 a year for life — and his attorney confirmed Friday that the settlement was a result of him suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the shooting involving Daniel Shaver of Texas…
“Any individual going through what he went through would be traumatized and suffer emotional distress, and as a result, it was best to medically retire,” Brailsford’s attorney, Michael Piccarreta, said.
A horrible turn of events, on every level.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
I hope everybody watches the video to see how bad this was. I hope nobody has to watch it twice.
What does it say about the department that he was rehired specifically so that he could draw that disability pension? Rotten to the core.
Jury determined it was a clean shoot. Objectively reasonable and wholly justified.
Jury only needed 6 hours of deliberation to come to a full acquittal.
“Don’t believe your lying eyes” is an even dumber argument.
This was a GD bad shoot.
I do not know why you celebrate death the way you do, but you are one sick person.
Well, by all means, let’s put you in the video and allow Mr. Shaver the innocent to exit. After all, you think justice was done.
Request a refund on your tuition fees for obtaining your Juris Doctor, if you actually hold one. You didn’t receive a proper legal education, and, you certainly haven’t received a decent instruction in logic and deductive reasoning.
No jury in history has ever rendered an improper verdict in either a criminal or a civil matter, that’s what your idiotic comment posits.
I have already seen this video and will not watch it again. This is the purest example of police brutality and this guy should be in prison…..not a guy taking a knee waiting on an ambulance.
The prosecution threw the case, not hard to do when the judge is in on the scam.
LOL!!! Were you a classmate of Saul Goodman at American Samoa U?
I will come right out and say it: I hope he doesn’t collect it for long.
Yep. I hope karma takes care of Brailsford in a big way… and soon.
Adding a little perspective here. This happened in Maricopa County.
Sort of explains their voting machines and how they run them, doesn’t it.
Ah, yes. Maricopa County. There is that.
I remember this when it initially came out. The LEO failed. The victim of this shooting was given contradictory commands and was submissive. Nothing in his posture and movements were hostile. Once he was submitting then either have him walk backwards to the LEO or have him prone with hands visible.
As Dathurtz, stated it is unconscionable that the LEO involved was temporarily rehired solely to qualify for a pension. Needed ten years to make the cut? Tough. The LEO who pulled the trigger should be in prison. It is past time the overly aggressive tactics of LEO are reeled in.
Chief: one worry at the back of my mind is: some group of cops screaming contradicting orders, one of which is “get on your knees!”
I’m stiff, have two implants, and do move slow. So, I’m a dead man.
My husband and I were talking about this last night. He’s got a bum knee and he said he would have told the cop to fuck off and stayed in position with his feet crossed and hands interlaced behind his head. I won’t move but I’ll make you do the work.
“BANG BANG BANG!!!”
/where’s my pension?
“ This was a horrible abuse of power by the police, but interestingly, there were no riots or even protests over it.”
They’d have NEVER done this to an exalted minority.
CLDM
I don’t speak either text or tweet-speak. Please translate.
“Criminal Lives Don’t Matter. A response to the rise of BLM that sees violent criminals dying during arrest as a net positive as they can no longer commit those acts of crime. It also rejects the notion that such criminals are wrongly targeted, instead that they are largely responsible for what becomes of them.”
“Any individual going through what he went through would be traumatized and suffer emotional distress, and as a result, it was best to medically retire,” Brailsford’s attorney, Michael Piccarreta, said.
“What he went through.” This piece of shit murdering excuse for a cop should be rotting in prison for the rest of his life. Instead he can live off the taxpayer dime for the rest of his stinking wretched existence.
Maybe he’ll eat his gun.
Too much IMO. I would prefer prison time for him as punishment and for the deterrent impact on other overly aggressive LEO who seem to relish the opportunity to fire off rounds.
The rifle seemed to be on full auto. Normal AR-15 do not have that ability.
We can only hope.
Don’t forget: this cop had “You’re Fucked” engraved on the weapon, but it was excluded from the murder trial. Judge ruled it was too prejudicial.
I think it should have been admitted. It showed the cop’s mindset. And he carried it out. He was hankering to.
https://www.tmz.com/2017/12/07/mesa-police-involved-shooting-bodycam-philip-brailsford-not-guilty-daniel-shaver/
I wonder how “Jack Dunphey” would yes-but that fact?
It wasn’t prejudicial, it was a window into the mentality of Brailsford.
Judge ruled it was too prejudicial.
Well, we wouldn’t want anything that might make the guy look bad entered as evidence, now would we?
As I said above, the judge was in on the whitewash.
citing David French…. geeze may as well cite SPLC as credible non waste of oxygen too.
Bad shoot w/out citing hacks like French.
This was a horrible incident. The cop involved should have properly been convicted. The victim was obviously terrified and in fear of his life at the unreasonable and sadistic commands being given by the cop.
As others have noted, the cop was eventually fired for violating department policy by having written a stupid comment on his rifle’s barrel, “You’re F’d,” which gives you some indication of his immaturity and improper attitude.
The DOJ still has its case open on the ex-officer. White on white incident, not the highest priority.
The only consolation in all of this, at least Brailsford is no longer on the force. Small comfort to Shaver’s family. What a travesty.
That police officer is out and out nuts.
Take the settlement from the cops’ retirement fund. Next time, they’ll be a bit more cautious about their nutcase compadres.
And just so no one forgets, the well-deserved compensatory award to the family of the victim is not actually coming from his oppressors, but from the pool of their oppressed. It’s like a Chinese “bullet fee,” but all so Very Democratic.
Still one of the absolute worst shoots I’ve ever seen.
Unbelievable the LEO wasn’t charged.
He was charged. And acquitted.
Ugh.
” but interestingly, there were no riots or even protests over it.”
The victim was white.
Democrats don’t riot over white victims.
Republicans don’t riot.
This didn’t even cause a ripple in the national media. Didn’t fit the narrative. Victim was born with the wrong color skin. Outside of the Conservative blogosphere, no one outside of AZ has even heard of this case.
I watched this vid shortly after the event. Made me physically ill.
I’m glad the officers were prosecuted. At first I’d heard they weren’t even going to do that – investigation somehow determined it was a “clean shoot”.
Incredible that the jury didn’t convict.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, an officer got 22 1/2 years for being present at the fentanyl overdose, self inflicted, of a black man. Jurors openly talked about intimidation – they were being followed home and threatened daily. Federal conviction of the officers for a racial hate crime also – even though there was never any evidence of any racial bias.
Our legal system is a farce. Absolute last place you would expect anything resembling justice.
8 Million is not enough, and its coming from the wrong source.
To be fair, I have heard the rationale of a “furtive movement” and how quickly someone can draw and fire a handgun.
I just don’t believe that that applies here.
As others have noted, the victim was given contradictory commands and, IIRC, was intoxicated.
Also as noted, police could have left him on the floor with arms spread, reducing the risk of a weapon draw, and cuffed him there.
I remember watching this video a couple years ago. I couldn’t watch it again. It made me physically ill. I found myself wishing unfortunate karma would fall on that sick SOB (and I’m normally a very forgiving person). We really should have intensive psychological screening for people wanting LEO jobs, like for airline pilots, but I guess it “costs too much.”
Awarded WAY to much of the tax payers money
How much taxpayer money will be going to the shooter in pension benefits over his lifetime?
Well, let’s see. The 2019 article says he retired at age 28 with a $31k/year pension. His life expectancy would be 50 years or so from that point, so he’ll get just over $1.5 million over 50 years (not including the annual increases typically paid out to cover inflation).
If we assume a 2 percent per year cost of living increase, the payout for the trauma experienced by the distinguished officer would be more like $2.6 million over 50 years…with the 50th year payment almost $82k. Compound interest is strong…
How was this justified as a good shoot? Was this “crawl towards us” taught to the cops? Tactically, once the suspects are on the ground, one cop covers, the other advances and cuffs. Worst police shoot ever. The officer thought he was controlling the situation, when in fact he was huffing himself up to shoot someone.
I watched it initially. Can’t watch it again.
Shaver’s shorts were falling as he tried to crawl and he tried to pull them up. “He was moving towards me and reached for his waistband!”
lord–playing acey-deucey with an unarmed, intoxicated individual–difficult to watch–what an irresponsible pos–unable to control himself / the situation and an innocent person dies–the worst, most dangerous type of person to be carrying a badge and a weapon