Dillon Taylor, age 20 and engaged to the expectant mother of his first child, was killed in a police shooting on August 11 of last year, in Salt Lake City, Utah — as he was doing nothing more than walking out of a 7-11 convenience store. The shooting was ruled “justified” by the Salt Lake district attorney.
But Taylor’s brother, Jerrail Pete Taylor, who was with him at the time of the fatal shooting, claimed at the time that Dillon did not have any idea of the grave situation that he was in, because he was wearing headphones and could not hear the officer’s commands.
Salt Lake City Officer Bron Cruz, who shot and killed Taylor, wore a body camera during the incident and last year, only a short portion of the unsettling video was made public. But now, 10 months after Taylor was killed by Cruz, the entire video has come out, and it clearly shows headphones in Taylor’s ears when he died.
The extremely graphic eight-minute video is viewable above. But be warned, it contains extremely disturbing and violent footage.
Police were responding to a report of a man brandishing a gun in the area. They claimed later that the man matched the description of Dillon Taylor, but Taylor was found to be unarmed when he was shot dead.
The video shows Cruz following Taylor with gun leveled for 12 seconds , shouting commands. Taylor appears to ignore him — apparently because his headphones impair his hearing.
In his ruling last October, Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill decided that Cruz was justified in killing Taylor because when Taylor turned around, as shown in the video, he briefly lifted his shirt, causing the officer to perceive a threat — a threat that, as Gill noted in his written opinion, did not exist.
“Officer Cruz’s belief that Dillon Taylor was armed with a gun and intended to use it against the officers was reinforced by Dillon’s actions and the acts of others,” Gill wrote. “By the time Dillon drew his hands from his waistband, Officer Cruz’s belief that Dillon was presenting a weapon… was reasonable.”
The graphic video above shows that rather than call for medical attention, even as Dillon Taylor lies face down in a pool of his own blood, the officer placed the fallen young man in handcuffs.
At about 0:48 into the video, as Cruz bends over the dead or dying Dillon Taylor, his white “iPod” style headphones are clearly seen in his ear.
[Image: Dillon Taylor Facebook]
