Who Is Philips Brailsford? Ex-Officer Found Not Guilty In Daniel Shaver's Death
An Arizona jury Thursday acquitted former Mesa police officer of a murder charge in the 2016 fatal shooting of an unarmed man named Daniel Shaver outside his hotel room, while officers were responding to a call that someone in the hotel was pointing a gun out a window.
The verdict on Thursday cleared Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, of criminal liability in the 2016 death of Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas, and found him not guilty of second-degree murder charges in the shooting of an unarmed man.
Eight jurors deliberated for less than six hours over a period of two days, finally finding Brailsford not guilty of the second-degree murder charge and also the lesser charge of reckless manslaughter.
The shooting, which occurred in 2016, took place in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa after police officers ordered Shaver to exit his hotel room, lie face-down in a hallway and also refrain from making sudden movements or he would be shot.
The 18-minute body-camera video of the shooting was released shortly after former officer Brailsford was acquitted Thursday. The footage showed that the officers ordered Shaver to lie down face-first and make no movements.
At one point, Shaver is seen putting his hands behind his back.
"Hands up in the air!" Sgt. Charles Langley, who was leading the police team that responded to the call, is heard yelling. "You do that again, we're shooting you."
"Please do not shoot me," Shaver said, sobbing.
Shaver was then ordered to crawl toward the officers. As he was seen inching forward, he appeared to reach toward the waistband of his shorts, leading Brailsford to open fire. Brailsford said he believed the 26-year-old was grabbing a handgun to shoot at the officer.
However no gun was found on Shaver’s body, but two pellet rifles that were believed to be related to his pest-control job were later discovered in his hotel room.
Brailsford’s attorney Michael Piccarreta after the verdict was read, said: "There are no winners in this case, but Mitch Brailsford had to make a split-second decision on a situation that he was trained to recognize as someone drawing a weapon and had one second to react."
"He didn’t want to harm Mr. Shaver … The circumstances that night that were presented led him to conclude that he was in danger. Try to make a decision in one second, life or death. It’s pretty hard," Piccarreta said, the Guardian reported.
Brailsford served as a Mesa officer for about two years before he was fired for violating department policy in 2016 after the shooting. Brailsford shot Shaver with a personal AR-15 rifle that he was allowed to use, according to several reports. His gun was inscribed with the phrase "you’re f-----," Tucson News Now reported. The inscription on the gun was considered a violation of department policy, which was one of the reasons Brailsford was fired.
Brailsford was also one of the first Mesa Police officers to be provided with a body camera, which he received as a rookie in 2013.
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