Body camera footage showing a Florida police officer fatally shooting an unarmed man in downtown Orlando was released Wednesday, just days after the man’s family and prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump demanded police to publicly release the full video.
Derek Diaz, 26, was pronounced dead at a local hospital after he was shot on July 3 at around 2 a.m. by an Orlando Police Department officer “doing proactive patrol” and who allegedly believed Diaz was involved in “drug activity,” the department said in a statement.
The body camera footage released Wednesday showed three officers on bicycles approach Diaz in a parked car. Following the shooting, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said officers were conducting a drug investigation and the officer who shot Diaz reacted to “a quick movement” that they believed might have been an attempt to go for a gun.”
But no gun was found. Smith said unspecified drugs were recovered during the investigation.
Natalie Jackson, an attorney for Crump Law, and Diaz’s family members said they were “left more questions than answers” during news conference Wednesday afternoon after police released the video.
“What we saw on the video was what we always knew . . . that an unarmed Derek Diaz was sitting peacefully in a legally parked car when he was aggressively approached by three armed police officers, and in less than one minute he was shot and bleeding,” Jackson said.
Jackson also questioned the officer’s aggression and why he approached Diaz, noting that Diaz had a medical marijuana identification card. He used marijuana to treat anxiety.
The officer, who was later identified as Jose Velez, was placed on paid administrative, according to Smith. Orlando police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are also investigating the officer’s use of deadly force.
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What does the video show?
One of the body camera videos released by the department begins with Velez approaching the driver’s side window of Diaz’s car, which was parked alongside other vehicles in public parking spots.
While pointing a flashlight at Diaz, Velez orders him to turn the car off and not to move, the video shows.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Diaz said.
Velez can be heard telling Diaz to hand over a small object wrapped in tin foil. Police have not identified what was inside the foil and have only described it as “narcotics,” according to the footage.
The footage then shows Velez open the driver’s side door as Diaz takes both of his hands off the steering wheel and keeping his left hand raised.
“Put your hands on the steering wheel,” Velez said.
Diaz put his left hand on the steering wheel again but opens a center console with his right hand and appears to reach inside, the video shows.
“Put your hands on the steering wheel,” Velez repeated before immediately firing at Diaz in the back.
Velez and another officer attempted to pull Diaz out of the car but he fell out of his seat and onto the ground, according to the footage. Velez rendered first aid and started chest compressions until the Orlando Fire Department arrived at the scene.
Diaz was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Family was given only 10 minutes to watch ‘sickening’ video
Diaz’s family and Jackson held a news conference Saturday to demand the release of the full body camera footage. But the video’s release on Wednesday only disturbed the family and left questions unanswered.
Sonja Nava, the mother of Diaz’s five-year-old daughter, said “the video was so sickening to watch, I threw up while watching it.” She added that the family was only given 10 minutes to watch the video before it was released to the public.
Nava said the family “had no time” to process the video and was shown a compilation of the footage, instead of the three individual videos.
“While we were watching it, we were told that they weren’t going to answer any questions, that they wouldn’t let us re-watch it,” Nava said. “We got to watch the three videos one time, they said we had to leave and that was it.”
Police call scene a high crime area
In a statement Wednesday, Smith said the footage was released “in full transparency and accordance with department policy.”
The area where Diaz was shot is a high-crime area where authorities have recovered guns since the beginning of the year, according to Smith.
Smith said Orlando police have responded to 431 incidents at that intersection in the last 18 months and three guns were seized in recent months.
“I express my sincere condolences to the Diaz family on the loss of their loved one,” Smith said in the statement. “We understand the need for answers.”
