EDITOR’S NOTE: Be advised that the officer worn video contains graphic language and graphic shooting violence.
AURORA | Multiple videos of the shooting of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, including the officer’s body-worn camera, were released Friday, and although they provided plenty of detail, there are many questions left unanswered.
The videos include body-camera footage, a dash camera recording from a bystander capturing Belt-Stubblefield’s crash, two Flock videos from witnesses, a traffic camera from an intersection nearby, and security footage from a gas station adjacent to the incident site.
The traffic-stop-turned-car-crash and subsequent shooting of Belt-Stubblefield happened Aug. 30 near East Sixth Avenue and 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 Sept. 2.
The release brought fresh rebukes of the Aurora police from the family members of the Belt-Stubblefield and their supporters.
“We demand the truth, and we will allow that truth to be the reason that to be the reason that Rajon’s legacy, and every other name we call behind a hashtag, is lifted, and it’s the reason why we say no more,” MiDian Shofner, a local activist who consistently demands Aurora police reform and discipline for Black men killed by officers, said Friday at an event with Belt-Stubblefield’s family.
The officer body cam video reveals a relatively brief and aggressive encounter. From the time the officer pulls behind Belt-Stubblefield, until the officer fires the first shot, less than three minutes elapse.
Videos released Friday confirmed not only how Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain previously said the incident played out, but the videos also pose questions raised by the family and attorneys.
In a narrated video, Agent Matthew Longshore, public information officer for Aurora, stated that the officer attempted to pull Belt-Stufflefield over for speeding.
Police have not released the name of the officer in the shooting.
“An officer assigned to the traffic section was conducting speed enforcement along East Sixth Avenue as part of a Labor Day DUI operation,” Longshore said. “The officer was parked near Toledo Street when he observed a vehicle speeding.”
READ: Aurora police chief cedes need for community trust but says use of force is inevitable
The officer pulls out onto East Sixth Avenue and attempts to initiate a traffic stop by turning on his lights and siren, Longshore said, which is also what is shown in the body-worn footage.
In the body camera footage, what appears to be Belt-Stubblefield’s car can be seen driving faster than the cars behind it, but when the officer pulls out, the camera does not have a view over the dashboard.
In the body-worn camera footage, the officer clicks something twice on his chest and reads out what sounds like a license plate number, but he does not call in any additional information to dispatch.
Longshore said the suspect’s vehicle does not immediately pull over after the officer activated his squad car lights and sirens, also seen in the officer body-cam video.
Previously, Chamberlain said the ensuing car crash did not come after a pursuit, but about 1 minute 20 seconds elapses from the time the officer pulls out to stop Belt-Stubblefield and when the officer drives up on the crashed car.
The video shows the officer speeding up and turning on full lights and sirens some time before arriving at the I-225 underpass.
In separate dash-camera footage provided to the police department by a civilian, Belt-Subblefield can be seen swerving and crashing into a vehicle, then hopping over the median in his vehicle and hitting a second oncoming vehicle.
The body camera footage shows the officer driving fast down East Sixth Avenue until he arrives at the Sinclair gas station, near Billings Street, where Belt-Stubblefield is sitting in his car in the oncoming traffic lane after he crashed.
The officer gets out of his vehicle and immediately approaches Belt-Stubblefield with his gun drawn and tells him to “stay in your car,” and “don’t move,” while Belt-Stubblefield’s car is smoking. The officer then radio’s dispatch to report the crash and its location.
As he’s still pointing the gun at Belt-Subblefield, the officer tells him to “give me your hands, show me your hands, get your hands up, dude.” Belt-Stubblefield’s music is loudly playing in the car, and he opens his door as the officer is yelling commands.
Belt-Stubblefield gets out of the car and tells the officer, saying, “‘Don’t shoot me,” in what sounds like an almost casual or familiar way.
After Belt-Stubblefield gets out of the car, he starts walking away from the officer toward the side of the road, as the officer orders him to put his hands up again. Belt-Stubblefield continues walking toward a grassy area, as shown in several camera footage angles, and he then throws a gun into the grass.
The officer grabs the man’s shirt and pulls him to the ground, trying to put him into a handcuffing position. There is some commotion that is difficult to distinguish, and then the camera footage shows Belt-Stubblefield getting up, standing over the officer, and then Belt-Stubblefield starts to walk away.
The officer gets up, points his gun at Belt-Stubblefield and yells, “Get on the ground, get away from that mother f****** gun.” He pushed Belt-Stubblefield and said, “Get on the ground now.”
Belt-Stubblefield looks back at his son, who was following him in a separate car and had walked to the scene, and he tells his son, “Get that shit,” while walking toward the officer. Belt-Subblefield says it about nine more times, while the officer says, “I’ll shoot you.”
Meanwhile, his son, behind him, says, “Dad, chill, no. Dad,” and then says, “Officer, chill.” Belt-Stubblefield turns again to say, “Get that shit,” as the officer punches him on the side of the head. Belt-Stubblefield gets into a fighting stance, as Chamberlain previously described, and he says, “Are you ready for this?” While his son kept saying, “Dad, no!”
He asked the officer three more times if he was ready for it, and he sounds as if he is slurring his words. The officer told hom twice more to get on the ground, and the last time, he repeats it while backing up onto the street. He then shoots Belt-Stubblefield twice in the chest. As Belt-Stubblefield stops, he stoots one more time at his head, and Belt-Stubblefield drops to the ground.
The officer stood pointing his gun at Belt-Stubblefield’s body as he called in to dispatch and says, “Shots fired.”
He stands there for a while as Belt-Stubblefield’s son moves around yelling in shock. As he begins to move the unconscious body of Belt-Stubblefield, a woman who looks like she might have a hospital badge clipped to her shirt offers a tourniquet to the officer as he stands over Belt-Stubblefield with his gun still drawn and pointed at him, but the officer refuses.
It takes two minutes for other officers to arrive at the scene and start performing life-saving measures on Belt-Stubblefield. The woman, who offered her help, is seen handing the officers the tourniquet and then attempting chest compressions on Belt-Stubblefield.
Most of the remaining footage reveals the trauma that many of the witnesses experienced during the unfolding of the scene.
The footage was released 72 hours after the family viewed it, as required by Colorado law. The police department stated that it would not provide any additional information once the footage was released.
The shooting is now under investigation by the 18th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team, which is composed of investigators from partnering law enforcement agencies within Arapahoe County, including the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, local police departments and criminal investigators from the District Attorney’s Office, according to the district attorney’s office.
“The Critical Incident Response Team follows a written protocol, which was adopted to guide
investigations into officer-involved incidents involving deadly force or potential deadly force, and to ensure that these complex and sensitive investigations are conducted impartially, thoroughly, and transparently,” said Eric Ross, spokesperson for the 18th District, in a statement.
Aurora police are currently under a consent decree imposed by the state Attorney General Phil Weiser, after a 2022 investigation determined the department has for years exhibited “patterns and practices” of using excessive force against the public, especially people of color.
The Sentinel is a race baiting rag.
The headline has Black man capitalized like they would if it was Chinese man or Brazilian woman…
Black people should not let liberals continue to define them by their race.
This is a news article? Reads more like an editorial. Couldn’t agree more with Juan’s comment above.
Recently, out of the blue after many years, the Sentinel Blog, eliminated daily emails to me. I wonder if they did this to anyone else whose comments they don’t like or agree with. I have to now access them through google but that works also.