Aurora chief defends officer in fatal shooting of Black man during traffic altercation

AURORA | Aurora police and family members of a Black man fatally shot by an officer Saturday are both appealing to the court of public opinion to judge who is to blame for the officer-involved shooting.

An Aurora police officer fatally shot and killed Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, 37, Aug. 29 when a physical altercation erupted after the officer attempted to pull him over. 

The traffic stop turned car-crash and subsequent shooting happened between 7:29 p.m. to 7:34 p.m., East Sixth Avenue at about Billings Street as numerous cars rolled past and witnesses inside and outside of cars watched events unfold, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.

Police said this was the third officer involved shooting this year.

“The one thing I hope that the community knows is that we are, without question, going to be as transparent as possible on every aspect of this event,” Chamberlain said on Tuesday. “We are not going to hold back anything. I ask the community to please realize we are going to provide real and factual information, and I ask for their support in this process.”

The solo officer involved in the shooting was working a Labor Day Weekend DUI saturation patrol Saturday in the area when he saw the “suspect” make some kind of traffic violation, Chamberlain said.

The officer, whom Chamberlain said he will not reveal in deference to his family’s safety, went to pull Belt-Stubblefield over at 7:29 p.m. on Saturday. Chamberlain said he thinks the officer was pulling Belt-Stubblefield over for a traffic violation or possibly a DUI, but he said he is unsure since the officer is now under investigation and he has not spoken to him. 

Supporters of the family have posted messages on social media and told some TV reporters that the officer did not do enough to de-escalate the situation and that the shooting was preventable.

Chamberlain said he was evaluating the officer’s actions solely through the body camera footage and statements from numerous witnesses to the shooting and events that led up to it.

When the officer activated his patrol car lights, Belt-Stubblefield kept driving, rear-ending one car and then veering into the traffic median, crashing into a second car.

Chamberlain said the officer asked Belt-Stubblefield to stay in the vehicle with his hands visible, but he did not comply and began getting out of the vehicle. One of his hands was hidden behind him, which Chamberlain said turned out to be concealing a handgun. 

As Belt-Stubblefield got out of the vehicle, he turned to throw the gun in a patch of grass nearby. As he threw the gun, the officer went to grab Belt-Stubblefield, which caused them both to fall from what the body camera footage reveals. 

At the same time, Belt-Stubblefield’s son came up on the scene, standing behind the officer because he was following his father in a separate vehicle, Chamberlain told reporters. He said his son was yelling at the officer as the officer approached Belt-Stubblefield before and while the two men fell. 

“Our officer falls down in a tussle with the suspect,” Chamberlain said. “This is a picture of our officer on the ground, on his back, with his body-worn video, and the suspect is standing over top of him.”

The officer is able to get up, and that is when ​​Belt-Stubblefield begins asking different people to get his “shit,” while looking toward the gun on the grass, Chamberlain said. Belt-Stubblefield repeats “get my shit” multiple times. 

“He said, ‘get the shit, get the shit,’” Chamberlain said. “Get the shit, referring to the weapon, and if he’s not referring to the weapon, I will be 100 percent completely surprised, because every time that statement is made, he is looking back exactly where that weapon is at, and he is talking to the individuals. He is talking to his relatives. He is talking to other people in the area. Get the shit. Get the shit.”

As Belt-Stubblefield looks back at his son and the other person near the gun and again told them to “get the shit.” The officer strikes  Belt-Stubblefield.

“The officer uses a striking motion to try to, one, break the concentration of the suspect, to communicate with these individuals about retrieving a possible weapon, and two, to try to take this individual into custody,” Chamberlain said. “The strike had minimal impact. What it did, the suspect immediately turned on the officer. He got into a fighting stance with the officer. He then walked in advance in an incredibly aggressive posture towards the officer.”

As Belt-Stubblefield aggressively walked toward the officer, he said, “I’m ready for this. Are you ready for this?” This caused the officer to retreat into the street behind him and fire the rounds at Belt-Stubblefield, which caused him to die, Chamberlain said. 

Chamberlain repeatedly told reporters that the department would strive to be transparent in its investigation as it unfolds.

Aurora police are currently under a consent decree imposed by the state attorney general after an investigation determined the department has for years exhibited “patterns and practices” of using excessive force against the public, especially people of color.

Aurora is currently investigating a handful of officer-involved shootings from the past two years.

Chamberlain warned the public about “misinformation” linked to the shooting on social media, not offering details about what was inaccurate from those accounts. He asked that the community make their determination about Saturday’s shooting from his statements and what he promised would be a “factual” and “accurate” investigation by the department and outside investigators.

However, the chief on Tuesday continued to press the department’s preliminary narrative of how the shooting unfolded, and that the suspect was to blame for the shooting.

“I wish that the suspect would have listened to what the officer said,” Chamberlain said. “I wish he would have merely put up his hands, stepped out of the car and had a conversation with the officer. Again, these are decisions, and these are things that he decided. This is not what the officer decided, it’s what the suspect decided.”

As per city and state laws and policies, Aurora will conduct a major-crimes and internal investigation into the shooting. A Critical Incident Response Team, composed of other area police and investigators from the 18th Judicial District will make an outside report about the shooting. The district attorney will make a determination whether the shooting was justified.

“Even after the suspect discarded the weapon, the threat to the officer and the public didn’t just disappear just because there was not a weapon there,” Chamberlain said. “There was aggression throughout the contact of this. We had an officer that got pushed out in the middle of the six-lane roadway. There were still discussions going on. There was still a fight going on.”

Chamberlain said police would release the entire, unedited officer body camera video once the family has reviewed it, adding that police have provided it to them.

He said that in addition to the bodycam footage, there appeared to be a wealth of nearby Flock video, business security video and video from witnesses that police will use in their investigation.

Arapahoe County coroner officials said Sept. 2 that Belt-Stubblefield was killed by gunshot during the shooting in the street. They said blood analysis on possible drugs or alcohol would not be available for 4-6 weeks.