The family of James “Jay” Garcia, who was fatally shot by Phoenix police while parked on a driveway, requires the department to post all of the unedited body camera footage of the incident, although the Police said the images were available upon request.
The man’s mother, Denice Garcia, and his sister, Jacqueline Fernández, told reporters on Tuesday that the summary images released by the Phoenix Police Department on Monday were not enough to provide answers in his death. Denice Garcia demanded that unedited body camera footage be filmed for all officers involved and that any footage from the dashboard camera be released.
“It is not uncommon for Latino and black youth to die at the hands of law enforcement,” said Denice Garcia. “As with other cases of police shootings, our family and community are unjustifiably unanswered.”
He described his son, the father of three children, as a kind and compassionate man who must now cry unanswered for his death.
Phoenix police released a nearly 12-minute video summary of body camera footage Monday, showing officers asking James Garcia to leave his vehicle while searching for a possible stabbing suspect in the Maryvale neighborhood. from Phoenix on July 4. The video contains disturbing images and profanity.
Sgt. Mercedes Fortune, a public information officer for the Phoenix Police Department, told NBC News on Tuesday that the department’s vehicles are not equipped with in-dash cameras. Fortune also told NBC News that all body camera images of all officers directly involved in the incident were released to those who requested them, outside of the critical incident briefing released Monday.
NBC News on Tuesday contacted the city’s public records department to obtain a copy of the camera footage of the unedited body of officers directly involved in the shooting.
The video showed an officer talking to James Garcia in an attempt to get him out of his vehicle, which the 28-year-old did not want to do. Garcia told officers that he preferred to wait for the situation in his car and gave a false name when asked to identify himself.
At one point in the video recap, an officer said Garcia had a gun in his right hand, pointing down and on his lap, and several officers surrounded the vehicle. The vehicle’s windows were rolled up, obstructing the view on the right side of Garcia’s body.
Officers then shot Garcia out the window after asking him to lower the gun, according to the images.
In a different clip, an officer is seen reaching out with a gloved hand and pulling a gun out of the car.
Police also said in the video release that detectives were able to identify Garcia through his fingerprints after the shooting and found arrest warrants for felonies and misdemeanors.
Denice Garcia said that after numerous views of the video, she did not see a gun in her son’s hand, and nowhere in the video was she shown pointing a gun at officers.
“But what I did see was that my son was talking with his hands, holding a cigarette and then trying to defend himself,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “But at no time did I see a gun, which is extremely important for us to see all the body cameras.”
Jacqueline Fernández, the sister of James García, also stated that the family wanted to see images of an SUV parked in front of her brother’s car that was seen in the video.
“The story that my brother is being portrayed as a bad person, everything is false,” said Fernández. “And those body cameras and that camera on that truck will give us the truth.”
Garcia’s death was met with public outrage when Phoenix residents expressed mistrust in the police department, demanding more transparency and accountability through the protest.
A vigil for Garcia was held at the house where he was shot, and a group of protesters gathered at the Phoenix police Maryvale compound two weeks ago to demand that the department publish full videos of the incident.
Williams responded to the lawsuits with a promise to release the body camera images within two weeks, an accelerated timeline to the standard 45-day policy the department has implemented.
Cases of deadly police force, particularly when minorities are involved, have come under intensive scrutiny since late May, when George Floyd died in the custody of Minneapolis officials. Floyd’s death has sparked protests against police brutality and systemic racism worldwide.
Activists have called for a series of police reforms, including increased oversight and reduced funding so that departments across the country are diverted to more community programs.
The Phoenix City Council approved funds last month for the city’s first police review board, the Office of Accountability and Transparency. The civilian-led board will receive $ 3 million of the money left over from the coronavirus relief, although activists lobbied for the funds to come from the police budget.
