Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

After officer charged, Amtrak shooting detailed: Cop 'assumed a crouched firing stance'

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-amtrak-shooting-charges-20170217-story.html

An Amtrak police officer just 18 months on the job was charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting an unarmed man fleeing after being stopped over his suspected possession of marijuana, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

The officer, LaRoyce Tankson, unholstered his service weapon, "assumed a crouched firing stance" and fired once as the victim was about 75 to 100 feet away and running at full speed, prosecutors said.

The victim, Chad Robertson, 25, was shot in the back of his shoulder, according to the medical examiner's office. He had been in Chicago for only about a half-hour Feb. 8 while on a stopover at Union Station waiting on a bus to Minneapolis.

Late Friday afternoon, Tankson, 31, was released from Cook County Jail on $250,000 bail and was shielded from reporters by uniformed officers as he ducked into an unmarked police vehicle and was driven away. Prosecutors had sought to hold him without bail.

The officer's lawyer, William Fahy, said Tankson opened fire "in defense of himself and others" after seeing Robertson reach his left hand toward his pocket while turning toward the officer as he ran away.

Tankson "really believed he was about to be shot," Fahy said. "That's not first-degree murder, judge."

Fahy said a small amount of marijuana was found on Robertson, a father of two who lived in Minneapolis.

Prosecutors said none of six witnesses to the shooting in the 300 block of South Canal Street saw Robertson gesture or turn toward the officer. In addition, Tankson's partner did not see a weapon or anything else in Robertson's hand and never opened fire himself, according to prosecutors. No weapon was found on Robertson, they said.

Chad Robertson, 25, shown with his family, was shot by an Amtrak police officer in Chicago on Feb. 8, 2017, near Union Station. Robertson died Feb. 15, 2017, according to a Chicago police spokesman. (Family photo)

After the bond hearing, Robertson's family, who have filed a federal lawsuit over his death, blasted the bond as far too low and said police too often falsely claim they feared for their lives in fatal shootings.

"How many times are they going to keep saying that that was why they're killing us?" Robertson's sister Nina told reporters at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. "It's unfair, it's unfair, and it's an injustice."

"They shouldn't be able to shoot people for running away," said Robertson's father, Leroy Martin. "They shouldn't be able to shoot people like that."

Another sister, Laniesha Taylor, questioned why Tankson didn't give chase instead of opening fire so soon.

"You didn't think to go after maybe your Taser or even chase him like cops used to do?" she said. "You didn't take a step to try to run, and that's what breaks my heart the most, that you didn't even try and without a thought in your mind killed my brother."

Fahy said Tankson is married to a Chicago firefighter and has three children. His mother, he said, is a "career law enforcement" officer. Before becoming an Amtrak cop 18 months ago, Tankson worked as a locomotive engineer for eight years, according to Fahy.

Following the shooting, Amtrak said the officers had been placed on administrative assignment, standard practice following a shooting. On Friday, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said that status remained unchanged after the filing of murder charges against Tankson. He could not say if Tankson continues to be paid by Amtrak.

The charges came little more than a week after the shooting, and the charges marked the second time in State's Attorney Kim Foxx's three months in office that a police officer has been charged with murder.

Veteran Chicago police Officer Lowell Houser was charged last month with first-degree murder in the shooting of an unarmed man with whom he had an ongoing feud during an off-duty incident Jan. 2. Fahy, who also represents Houser, said the officer acted in self-defense after the victim, Jose Nieves, threatened to shoot him and reached toward his waistband. In a decision criticized by many veteran lawyers, Judge Donald Panarese Jr. ordered Houser freed on bond on electronic monitoring without posting any money.

Prosecutors said Robertson arrived in Chicago on Feb. 8 on a bus from Memphis. The driver dropped him and two other passengers at Union Station at 8 p.m. so they could stay warm as they waited to catch another bus to Minneapolis.

About 8:30 p.m., Tankson and his partner were on patrol outside the station when they caught the three smoking marijuana, according to Assistant State's Attorney Ahmed Kosoko. The group stopped smoking at Tankson's request and Robertson apologized, Kosoko said.

The three were allowed to leave and walked to a nearby restaurant to wait for their 9:45 p.m. bus.

But moments later, the officers again approached and ordered the three to stand against the glass wall of an elevator shaft attached to a parking garage on Canal Street, Kosoko said. Prosecutors said Tankson had no reason to think the three had done anything wrong other than possess marijuana.

As Tankson began patting down Robertson, he took off running, prosecutors said.

Fahy told the judge that Tankson's partner had felt a "hard metallic object," possibly a gun, while patting down one of Robertson's companions. When the partner asked, "What's this?" Robertson ran, Fahy said.

Fahy said that "thousands of dollars" in cash were recovered in baggage that belonged to the group and that Robertson had been acting "suspiciously" and was resisting being patted down.

But the Robertson family lawsuit, filed in Chicago on Tuesday, alleged that Tankson and his partner illegally detained Robertson and his companions and began to conduct illegal searches of them.

Tankson was "very aggressive, disrespectful and again used a great deal of profanity during the illegal search," the suit said.

The suit alleged Robertson "feared for his life" and took off running.

According to the suit, Tankson "calmly dropped to one knee, removed his gloves, unsecured his weapon" and opened fire.

Tankson announced no commands, saying only, "It's a gun out. It's a gun out," according to the suit.

The officer handcuffed the collapsed Robertson as "he lay in the street clinging to life," the suit alleged.

The shooting left Robertson paralyzed, and he died a week later, at 11:20 p.m. Wednesday, according to the medical examiner's office.

At the courthouse, Robertson's family said Tankson opened fire without justification.

"He had dreams and aspirations," Nina Robertson said. "I'm devastated. I'm devastated that his life was taken."

[Andrea]

Cop filmed telling motorist he wanted to beat him, sic dog on him

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/cop-filmed-telling-motorist-he-wanted-to-beat-him-sic-dog-on-him/



A days-old viral Facebook video shows an angry New Jersey cop yelling at a young motorist. The police officer says he wants to knock the motorist "the fuck out" and sic his 90-pound police dog on him—in what appears to be retribution for the man filming the officer. Because of the video, taken by one of the two motorists pulled over in Atlantic City, the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Following the publication of the 80-second video, which has more than 400,000 views, Atlantic City Police Chief Henry White called for an internal affairs investigation. The men involved in the traffic stop have been neither identified nor arrested. The incident is being investigated solely because it was recorded. This is another example of how the YouTube society—in which people are constantly filming each other and their surroundings with mobile phones—is altering the criminal justice system.

"Take that phone and stick it out of my face. I'm not gonna tell you again," the officer tells one of the motorists who is filming him. The officer then becomes enraged.

"Calm the fuck down," the officer yells at the two men, one of whom calmly replies "yes, sir."

"I guarantee you, that 90-pound dog is going to come out and rip the fuck out of you," the officer shouts. In response to one of the men filming the officer, the cop says: "Put your hand in my face and I'm going to knock you the fuck out."

The cop also says:

"We'll step out and bang. I got no fucking problem. You're under unlawful detention. You're not allowed to have your cell phone. You understand? You're not allowed to use it. You can turn yours off right now... "

The video ends.

The authorities declined to say why the men were pulled over. In a statement, the police agency said:

The Atlantic City Police Department is aware of a citizen-filmed video that is circulating on social media. Chief Henry White has ordered the Internal Affairs Section to begin an immediate investigation into the incident. The language and tone used by our officer in the video is concerning and is not condoned by this department. The officer involved was wearing a body-worn camera which will be reviewed by detectives.

The Atlantic City Police Department values our interactions with our residents and visitors. We have worked hard to gain the trust and confidence of the community by becoming part of the community with many of our programs such as Pizza with the Police and Coffee with the Cop. Our officers are involved in neighborhood walks and events that educate the community on the role of police officers with our Civilian Police Academy and Juvenile Police Academy.

Days before the video surfaced, meanwhile, another Atlantic City police officer was arrested on aggravated assault charges in connection to his girlfriend's beating.

[Andrea]

Tell the DA: Indict the LAPD cop who shot at a 13-yr-old boy

https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/indict-lapd-cop/

Orange County is proving to the world once again that police are above the law.

An off-duty LAPD officer is shown on video forcefully grabbing and dragging 13-year-old Christian Dorscht, after he stood up for a girl the officer called a "cunt" and yelled to get off of his lawn. And when other children try to help him, the officer pulls out his gun and fires a shot into the crowd. If that isn't upsetting enough, what happens next is even worse: when police show up, they let the officer--who still hasn't been identified--walk free, but arrest Christian and another 15-year-old boy with charges of "battery and terrorist threats." It's a combination of white vigilante and police violence terror--and it's horrifying.

Hundreds of people poured into the streets in protest to demand the officer be charged. The Anaheim Police Department posted a statement that they are working on an investigation--but the power rests with the District Attorney's office. And technically, after an investigation, the DA's office could still charge the children that were terrorized on that day. That's why we're demanding that Orange County DA, Tony Rackauckas, immediately indict the officer--and refuse to prosecute any of the children involved. Will you sign the petition?

Below is the letter we'll send on your behalf:
Dear Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas:

The video of a grown man physically assaulting a 13-year-old boy after calling a little girl a "cunt" is beyond upsetting. But what makes it even worse is the fact that he is a police officer, sworn to protect the community. Any person who fires a gun, while forcefully grabbing a child, should be held accountable under the full extent of the law. And the people deserve to know who that person is. Police are not exempt.

I join Orange County residents in demanding that you indict this unnamed officer, release his name, and refuse to prosecute any of the children involved. It is unacceptable that two children were arrested and charged, while this officer has walked free. We are counting on you to set things right and stand up for justice.

Thank you,

[Your name here]

[Andrea]

A new lawsuit alleges the city's police stopped thousands of black and Latino residents for no reason

https://news.vice.com/story/milwaukee-cops-sued-over-allegedly-racist-stop-and-frisk-program

The American Civil Liberties Union slapped the City of Milwaukee with a class action lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that its police officers conduct a “high-volume, suspicionless stop-and-frisk program” that disproportionately targets black and Latino residents. The practice also fuels deep racial inequality in the city’s criminal justice system, which has incarcerated half of the black men in the city, lawyers also argue.

Filed on behalf of six black plaintiffs, the lawsuit contends that in 41 percent of the 33,343 stops that took place between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2012, Milwaukee police did not record a reasonable suspicion for conducting the stop, required by 1968 Supreme Court case Terry v. Ohio. As a result, the practice violates residents’ civil rights under the Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution.

Police first stopped and searched one of the plaintiffs, a minor who wasn’t named, on his way to a playdate at a friend’s house in 2010, when he was just 11, and he has been stopped two other times since, the suit alleges. In one instance, he said, Milwaukee officers warned him to avoid walking through alleyways because it made him “look suspicious.”

Another plaintiff, Alicia Silvestre, a 60-year-old school secretary, was stopped and searched for running a red light, according to the suit. Police then allegedly followed her home, with her 4-year-old granddaughter in the car, came into her house, and searched her handbag, claiming they had evidence she was using heroin. They ultimately left without charging or arresting her. In fact, most people who are stopped are never charged or arrested, according to Nusrat Choudhury, one of the lead attorneys on the case.

“Those who are [charged] often face charges for low-level offenses, like loitering. Low-level arrests and citations can come with fines and fees,” she said. “When people can’t pay, they find themselves trapped in a justice system in which there are too many ways in, and not enough ways out.”

Milwaukee’s Police Department adopted stop-and-frisk in 2008 as part of a “broken windows” policing strategy, wherein officers crack down on minor offenses in hopes of reducing more serious crime. In New York City, stop and frisk was in effect for more than a decade but was phased out in 2013 after a federal judge ruled the way the city was carrying out the program to be unconstitutional.

Attorneys in the case against Milwaukee are challenging stop and frisk on the same constitutional grounds as attorneys challenging New York’s stop and frisk program. Both cases also cite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1968 ruling in Terry v Ohio, which determined pedestrian stops are only constitutional if an officer can claim there was a suspicion that a person was armed and dangerous, based on “specific and articulable facts.”

Six years ago, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn — named as a defendant in the suit — acknowledged to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the city’s policing practices did target people who were not committing crimes. “Yes, of course, we are going to stop lots of innocent people,” he said. “The point is, do folks understand what their role is as a cooperative citizen in having a safe environment?”

As for the current suit, Flynn disputed the ACLU’s characterization of stop and frisk.

“The Milwaukee Police Department has never used the practice of ‘stop and frisk,’” he said in an emailed statement. “No discussion of our crime tactics is complete without reference to the hyper-victimization of disadvantaged communities of color by high rates of crime. But [Milwaukee Police Department] considers it our moral duty to confront violence where it occurs.” Flynn also cited recent police department data from 2016 indicating that nearly 80 percent of homicide victims were black, as were nearly 80 percent of homicide suspects.

Racial inequality in Milwaukee is stark. Half of all black men in their 20s and 30s in Milwaukee Country have spent some time in a correctional facility — 40 percent of them for low-level drug offenses, according to a 2013 study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Moreover, two-thirds of all incarcerated black men from Milwaukee County came from the six poorest ZIP codes. Wisconsin, as a whole, incarcerates black men at a higher rate than any other state in the country.

There’s no question that crime is a problem in Milwaukee; it was one of the handful of cities that drove up the nationwide murder rate in 2015, according to the most recent available FBI data. But the lawsuit charges that rather than deploy officers to targeted crime “hot spots,” Milwaukee police department instead saturates police districts located in largely black neighborhoods. Residents in one of these districts are therefore more likely to be come into contact with police, which also makes them more likely to be arrested or ticketed for low-level offenses.

“Stop-and-frisk can be part of an effective crime control program, one that focuses on high-crime hot-spots over a period of time, but it can also be a counterproductive tactic,” said Seth Stoughton, a criminal law professor at the University of South Carolina and former Florida police officer. “The constitutional authority to stop someone and, if appropriate, frisk them is a valuable investigative and officer safety tool in individual interactions, but when it is improperly implemented it can increase community hostility in a way that undermines effective policing.”

Milwaukee police conducted nearly 200,000 stops in 2015, almost three times as many stops conducted in 2007 and affecting about a third of the city’s overall population, according to the lawsuit. In spite of this uptick in traffic and pedestrian stops, crime did not go down. In fact, it increased over the last decade, which calls into question the overall effectiveness of stop and frisk practices. Supporters of stop and frisk in New York City voiced concerns that ending the program would cause crime to skyrocket. Violent crime, however, declined in the years after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to end stop and frisk, according to data from the Brennan Center for Justice.

The ACLU’s lawsuit comes as Milwaukee’s police department waits for the Department of Justice to come back to them with a proposed list of non-binding reforms, the outcome of a program their chief opted into.

The ACLU lawsuit seeks improved supervision of Milwaukee police officers, to ensure that they are conducting evidence-based stops. It also seeks the collection of a semi-annual release of stop data, which includes demographic information as well as the basis for the stop. “We are seeking accountability and transparency,” Choudhury said. “It’s a no brainer. This practice must end.”

[Andrea]

Video shows Tucson police shoving 86-year-old woman to pavement

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/27/video-shows-tucson-police-shoving-86-year-old-woman-to-pavement/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.b6b15760c4ad

The body camera footage of a recent protest against President Trump’s immigration policies in Tucson shows an 86-year-old woman, weighing less than 100 pounds and standing about 4 feet, 5 inches tall, approaching police officers and pointing at them as she shouted indiscernible words.

Then, a police officer appears to push her arm, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the pavement. As a 65-year-old woman beside her reaches down to help the woman up, an officer pepper-sprays her in the face, temporarily blinding her and causing her to turn away in pain.

The video footage, released Friday by the Tucson Police Department to a local television station, illustrates the tense clashes from the Feb. 16 protest there that began peacefully but soon escalated as protesters reportedly began disrupting rush-hour traffic. Three police officers sustained minor injuries and four protesters were arrested.

Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said the department is investigating but told reporters that he thinks his officers handled the crowd appropriately. Local immigrant rights advocates have spoken out against police conduct at the protest, saying that the arrests were unwarranted and that officers used unnecessary force — particularly against elderly women at the rally. The body camera footage, the rally’s organizers say, “confirms police brutality and repression” of peaceful protesters.

The event, organized to protest recent nationwide deportation raids and in solidarity with the National Day Without Immigrants, began at 4:30 p.m. that day in front of Tucson’s downtown Federal Building. By 6 p.m., at least 80 people had joined the protest — organizers said it grew to 200 people at one point. It “suddenly became a safety and logistical challenge” as crowds began veering off the sidewalks and into the path of traffic, Magnus wrote.

An officer issued an emergency call for assistance, and those on the scene urged protesters to leave the street and return to the sidewalks. “Most of the crowd complied, but a very specific subgroup elected to remain in the road and challenge the directions they were given by the officers,” Magnus said, compromising their safety.

“One of the officers working to get a protester back to the sidewalk was assaulted by that protester,” Magnus said. “When the officer went to arrest this subject and place him in a patrol car for transport, he and the other officers who were assisting him were quickly surrounded by members of the crowd.”

Police arrested David Leon, 24, Joan Cichon, 68, and Tanya Alvarez-Blancarte, 42, in connection with aggravated assault on a peace officer. Najima Rainey, 39, was arrested in connection with obstructing and failure to identify.

Rolande Baker, a retired schoolteacher, was the woman pepper-sprayed. When she saw police arresting Leon, she crossed the street, she said in an interview with The Washington Post.

“I saw the police being way more aggressive than I’ve ever seen them be,” she said. She has been participating in peaceful rallies and protests in Tucson since she moved there in 1987, she said, and has never had any problems with local law enforcement.

She described some of the moments captured by the recently released body-camera footage, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request by Tucson News Now.

The 86-year-old woman had joined with three other women in locking their arms in front of the police van, blocking it from leaving. After officers unlinked the women’s arms, one pushed her to the ground. Officers then pepper-sprayed Baker in the face.

“Here’s this woman on the ground, and they’re so busy pepper-spraying those who were helping her, they never help her up,” Baker said. “Do we look violent to you?”

The 86-year-old woman, whom authorities have not identified, was not injured, and got back up on her own. Baker, however, was still recovering from the pain in her eyes three days later.

“It’s just terrible,” she said. “Would you do that to your mother? Would you do that to your grandmother? Because I’m about the age of your grandmother.”

Steffanny Cott, a protest organizer with immigrant rights group Lucha Unida de Padres y Estudiantes (LUPE), told the Arizona Daily Star that police overreacted to the demonstration. She said that marchers were going around the police vehicle, and that the officer was revving the engine and the sport-utility vehicle nudged Leon, the demonstrator who was later arrested.

LUPE wrote on a GoFundMe page that at least a dozen people, including two children, a retired teacher, a nurse, and two legal observers were “inhumanely pepper sprayed.” The group wrote that cries of “help me” could be heard as one of the leaders of Tucson Black Lives Matter was pepper-sprayed, pushed to the ground, pulled by her hair, and then dragged to the sidewalk and later into the patrol van where she was arrested.

Baker, along with other protesters present that day, attended a City Council meeting last Wednesday to describe the treatment they received from local law enforcement. City Council members called for an investigation and a meeting between some of the protesters and the police officers, Baker said.

Baker worried about both the “aggressive” behavior of police and a bill that passed the Arizona Senate last week that would subject protesters to anti-racketeering legislation, allowing police to seize the assets of anyone involved in a protest that at some point becomes violent.

“They’re trying to shut us up is what they’re trying to do, in my opinion,” Baker said. “It’s scary that this is all happening at the same time.”

[Andrea]

Cop Filmed Beating Unarmed Man, Pulling Gun And Ordering Crowd ‘The F**k Back’

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vallejo-police-beating-video_us_58c6a7d8e4b0ed71826dfcfa?

A Vallejo, California, police officer was caught on video repeatedly punching a man with his fists and flashlight before threatening a group of bystanders with his service weapon on Friday.

The officer was responding to a report of a man behaving erratically at a Valero gas station, according to San Francisco’s KRON-TV.

The footage, filmed by a bystander and posted to Facebook, begins with the officer pursuing an unidentified man on foot. Moments later, the man appears to give up and sits on a median strip. The officer then rushes over and forcibly shoves the man, who appears to be unarmed, to the ground.

A brief struggle ensues, during which the man can be heard screaming, “I am God, I am God,” as the officer repeatedly strikes him with his fist and a flashlight. In the video clips below, the officer and others can be heard yelling profanities as a crowd gathers to witness the scene.

“The kid surrendered,” one witness told San Francisco’s KPIX 5 News. “The cop, on the other hand, came right up behind him. He immediately dove on the kid and started whaling on him.”

At one point in the video, someone can be heard yelling “Police brutality!” The officer continues beating the man as a second officer arrives on the scene.

When tensions in the crowd seem to rise, the first officer removes his handgun from its holster and tells everyone to “get the fuck back.” Arriving officers then push the crowd back.

The video appears to show at least one bystander’s arrest. The man the first officer beat was charged with being under the influence and resisting arrest, according to KPIX 5. It remains unclear what, if any, charges have been filed against other people at the scene.

Don Cameron, a police trainer interviewed by KPIX 5 on Saturday, defended the actions of the officer involved in the beating.

“That’s what they’re trained to do,” Cameron said. “When we’re down on the ground, we want to get the person in custody as quickly as we can and we use personal weapons.”

Former Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said that while he agreed with the officer’s initial response, he did not feel a continuous use of force was necessary.

“It does look bad [and] it does appear inappropriate,” Jordan told KPIX 5.

Vallejo police are asking the public to refrain from making judgments until police complete an internal investigation.

“Just like anyone else officers are innocent until proven guilty,” the department said in a statement. “Violence is always ugly but police officers are exposed to violent situations every day and they are required to overcome that violence not just match it. We will investigate this matter and will take the appropriate action if any policy or law has been broken.”

[Andrea]

Man streams video on Facebook as officers shoot him

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/03/17/police-shooting-mentally-ill-black-man/99321362/

ALAMO, Tenn. — At least one Crockett County sheriff's deputy killed a bipolar black man parked sideways on a ramp to a U.S. highway as the man recorded the shooting on live streaming video.

Rodney James Hess, 36, a New Orleans native who had been living in Texas City, Texas, with his fiancée, was shot at around 2:15 p.m. CT Thursday and was transported to Regional One Health medical center in Memphis where he died.

When deputies responded to the area about 75 miles northeast of Memphis because traffic was being blocked, Hess became "erratic," said spokesman Josh DeVine of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The agency did not say whether investigators found any firearms in Hess' vehicle.

"A Crockett County deputy arrived after drivers were obviously not able to get where they wanted to go," DeVine said. "He then determined that he needed backup. Preliminary information indicates Hess attempted to use his vehicle, his SUV, to strike the officers at least twice."

Hess' videos do not show him attempting to hit the officers who responded though part of the interaction with police does not appear to have been recorded.

Hess recorded two videos on his Facebook page. The first was nearly 20 minutes long and leads up to the confrontation with law enforcement. Hess drives his white SUV around the intersection of Tennessee 88 and U.S. 412 on the overpass, periodically blocking traffic with his car.

“He was not on a suicide mission. He was not trying to harm anybody. He was asking them for help and they shot him down.”
Johnisha Provost, Texas City, Texas

It ends as the first Crockett County deputy arrives and parks near Hess' vehicle.

The second video last about 4 minutes, Hess asks to speak with a commander and drops his phone just before several shots are fired into the SUV.

"He was not on a suicide mission," Johnisha Provost said Friday from their Texas home. "He was not trying to harm anybody. He was asking them for help and they shot him down."

She found out Hess was in trouble when her aunt called her at work to tell her about the Facebook Live post, she said.

"He was on Facebook, and I logged on and I watched it," Provost said.

Hess suffered from bipolar disorder, she said. And she could tell from looking at the videos that he was disoriented and lost.

"He couldn't get his mind together. That's why he asked for a higher command," she said. "I always told him, 'Babe, if you are ever in a situation where you need help, ask the person in charge for the higher command to help you,' and that's what he kept saying."

Hess was in Tennessee visiting his mother, who lives in the Memphis area, Provost said. He had moved to Memphis when he was a teenager and graduated from high school there.

Investigators did not know why Hess was in Alamo, DeVine said.
New Orleans native Rodney James Hess, 36, died March

New Orleans native Rodney James Hess, 36, died March 16, 2017, after a Crockett County, Tenn., deputy shot him on a U.S. 412-Tennessee 88 exit ramp in Alamo, Tenn. (Photo: Courtesy of Johnisha Provost)

"He had been in Memphis for two days after leaving New Orleans," she said. "He was on his way back home to me and his daughter when they killed him."

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is aware of the recording but cannot confirm its authenticity, DeVine said.

"I want people to know he was not a threat," Provost said through tears. "He was a great person, a great dad, a great provider."

They had been together for the past three years.

"He just suffered from mental illness and people need to be aware of how to deal with mental illness," she said. "They could have just shot his tires out or they could have handled it differently. They didn't have to kill him."