Sandy MaloneMarietta, GA – The Cobb County district attorney announced that a grand jury ruled that the officer-involved fatal shooting of 17-year-old Vincent Truitt last summer was justified and released the videos his family wanted made public (video below).
Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady Jr. released the grand jury’s findings and showed the bodycam and dashcam videos of the incident for the first time on Feb. 18, WXIA reported.
The grand jury deliberated for eight hours before coming to a decision.
“The grand jury determined the use of deadly force was authorized and recommended that my office take no further action,” Broady explained, according to WGCL.
Broady said the grand jury had seen more video than was released to the public, including still pictures taken from multiple angles that clearly showed Truitt had a gun in his hand when he was shot.
“You can clearly see, the weapon that he’s holding that was recovered on the ground at the end of the video,” Cobb County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jason Saliba said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said the incident occurred on July 13 when Cobb County police tried to stop a stolen car with three teens in it on Riverside Parkway in Austell, WSB reported.
The driver fled and led officers on a chase.
Dashcam video showed Cobb County police officers attempted to stop the fleeing car multiple times with their own vehicles and finally blocked it in behind a building.
When officers approached the vehicle, the driver fled on foot, the video showed.
Bodycam video showed Truitt slid across the front seat to the driver’s side and jumped out of the car with a pistol in his hand.
The officer who was pursuing him opened fire.
Truitt was struck twice in the back and died of his wounds.
The district attorney confirmed that the video showed the officer didn’t give any commands to Truitt to drop his weapon before he shot him, and said the law didn’t require him to do so, WXIA reported.
“The law says if a officer is chasing a felon who has a weapon, who poses a threat to others, he has the right to use deadly force,” Broady explained.
“When you see the slowed down video, you’ll see that even though it’s just a couple seconds, there was plenty of distance that the officer ran before the officer reached for his gun,” Broady explained. “And when he – Truitt – comes out the [car], the gun is obvious, and he actually takes a peek back at the officer.”
“He’s running with the gun in the other direction that other officers are, and, like I said before, there are many places where he could have hid,” the district attorney added.
Officials said they concurred with the grand jury’s ruling that the officer was justified in shooting Truitt, WXIA reported.
A grand jury will not charge a Georgia police officer who shot and killed a Black teenager last summer.
Vincent Truitt was 17.
Police shot him in the back twice after he fled an allegedly stolen car. Family fought for months for the DA to release bodycam video.
(📷: GoFundMe) pic.twitter.com/XI22ltHEXv
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 19, 2021
Attorneys for Truitt’s family told WGCL they were planning to file a $50 million lawsuit against the city.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
