Newly released dash-cam video is raising new questions about a 2013 shooting in which a Florida sheriff's deputy shot and paralyzed an unarmed black man.
On the morning of Sept. 13, Dontrell Stephens, who was 20 at the time, was riding his bike when he noticed he was being followed by a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy. Exclusive dash cam video obtained by local station WPTV shows the moment Deputy Adams Lin fires four shots at Stephens.
At the time of the shooting, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw defended the deputy, saying Stephens pulled out a black object that could have been a threat to the deputy's life, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The object that Stephens had in his hand was only his phone. He is now paralyzed below the waist.
As for the deputy? Lin returned to work four days later, and a subsequent investigation by the state attorney found the shooting was justified.
In the video, another deputy can be heard assuring Lin after the shooting that "everything will be ok."
"There are no records of any commands ever made to Dontrell Stephens," attorney Jack Scarola, who is representing Stephens in a suit against Bradshaw and Lin, told the station.
Bradshaw told WPTV that policy is not to comment pending litigation.
Lin was in Afghanistan for 10 months in 2007 as a sergeant in the military police.
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