Zachary Hammond Death Video: Footage Of Teen’s Controversial Killing By Police Could Be Released [Updated]

The Zachary Hammond death video shows a deadly scene, one in which police — according to an unnamed witness — are said to have planted evidence on the dead 19-year-old. Footage of the fatality could become public.

Hammond was killed during a police sting last month in Seneca, South Carolina. The teen was shot behind the wheel of his car in a Hardee’s parking lot. Officers claimed that Hammond was trying to strike Lieutenant Mark Tiller with the car, but Hammond’s family claims that the car was not moving and that Zachary was shot in the back.

The allegations against police grow worse from there. In a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the family’s attorney, Eric Bland, said a witness claimed, “the officer who opened Zachary’s door and pulled his dead body from the vehicle then went ‘to the trunk of his police car and pulled something out.'”

“The officer walked back over to the man on the ground rolled him over to his side, put something underneath his body, and then rolled him back. A police officer with a neighboring police force has confirmed to SLED that the Seneca Police Department celebrated the killing of Zachary by desecrating his corpse.”

Representatives of the City of Seneca have reached out to the Inquisitr’s editors and posit the following.

“Immediately after the shooting, officers did remove [Zachary Hammond] from the vehicle to render aid – CPR, rescue breaths and an A.E.D. was retrieved from the trunk of a patrol car and attached to Mr. Hammond. That is standard procedure for the police department.”

“After Zachary had been shot and killed, member(s) of the Seneca Police Department lifted his dead hand and ‘high fived’ Zachary Hammond,” Bland wrote.

Police captured the shooting death of Zachary Hammond on video, but the State Law Enforcement Division have denied requests from local media to release it under the Freedom of Information Act, citing an ongoing investigation.

Now pressure is building on police to release video from the death of Zachary Hammond. His parents have urged the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to be open with the investigation, and many in the community have called for dashboard camera footage from the car of Lt. Mark Tiller to be released.

They are also calling for prosecutor Chrissy Adams to step down from the case, saying that she is not committed to transparency and does not appear to have a sense of urgency.

“We haven’t seen any evidence that she intends to prosecute Lt. Tiller,” Hammond’s mother, Angie, said via The Greenville News. “Why is anything more important to her than the video? Release the video.”

Local residents held a rally over the weekend in an effort to increase pressure on police.

“There’s enough people out here today to get those people out of office,” nonviolence advocate Jack Logan said, according to The Greenville News. “What are they trying to hide?… There’s something wrong in this town and it’s called transparency with this sorry police department.”

Though it remains in police possession now, the Zachary Hammond death video will eventually be made public. Jay Bender, a lawyer and expert on the Freedom of Information Act, told WSPA that the State Law Enforcement Division is incorrect in denying requests to release the video and could be overturned.

[Image via Fox Carolina/Hammond family]