Torrance police ‘murdered my son,’ mother says after viewing video
Christopher De’Andre Mitchell’s family on Friday shared a video they described as unedited footage of the shooting from a police body camera, released to them by Torrance police after a public-records act request. Police earlier released their edited version of the video, including overlays and narration.
Watching the video from the night of her son’s death, Sherlyn Haynes felt more resolved than ever before. It only reinforced what she’s believed for months now.
“Torrance police unnecessarily murdered my son,” she said in an interview with the Daily Breeze. “He was polite to them — he was doing exactly what they told him to do,” she said. “It was a senseless murder. My son didn’t have to die that day.”
Her son, Christopher De’Andre Mitchell, was killed on Dec. 9, 2018, when officers responded to a call about a stolen vehicle. For months, Haynes and activists from Black Lives Matter have protested Torrance’s City Council meetings, demanding the release of the footage from officers’ body-worn cameras.
Earlier this week, the Torrance Police Department released an edited version of the footage that included narration and some effects that, officials say, were meant to help the public better understand what they were seeing. A statement released via email described the edited video as “a Critical Incident Community Briefing which incorporates video footage and factual information for public viewing.”
Through a public records request, Haynes’ lawyers said they were able to acquire an unedited version of the video, which they shared with the Daily Breeze.
15 seconds
While the videos are not dramatically different, the unedited version shows that the shooting took place less than 15 seconds after officers made their initial contact with Mitchell.
Mitchell was shot three times after officers demanded he get out of the vehicle.
“The video and the evidence suggest that he was trying to get out of the car as the officer directed,” said Peter Carr, one of Haynes’ lawyers. “He was shot while trying to follow the officer’s commands.”
In a nearly nine-minute video about the incident released by the city of Torrance, Police Chief Eve Irvine said Mitchell was shot when he “did not follow the officer’s orders and reached for the weapon.”
The weapon between Mitchell’s legs was a modified Crossman Phantom 1000 air rifle, which officers initially identified as a long gun. When officers first approached the vehicle, Mitchell had his hands up. They dropped to his lap after officers initially approached, prompting officers to step back and demand that he stop moving.
Mitchell apologized and put his hands up when officers told him to get out of the vehicle.
It becomes difficult to see what happened next; the officer turned off his flashlight and gripped his pistol with two hands, which blocked the view of the camera. Officials say Mitchell reached for his weapon, but Haynes and her lawyers argue that he was complying with officers’ orders to get out of the car.
“How are you going to get out unless you move?” Carr said.
“It is absolutely preposterous to suggest that Christopher was reaching for a toy gun — a gun that he knows is not real — when he has two officers who are pointing real guns at him,” he said. “It is even more ridiculous to suggest that he did that after being apologetic to the officers,” when they thought he wasn’t complying with their orders.
In the unedited video, after shooting Mitchell, the officers are seen returning to their vehicle, calling for Mitchell to put his hands up and not to move. After a few moments, the officer yells for Mitchell to get out of the vehicle and lay on the ground.
“You gotta do this so we can get you some help,” the officer says.
Mitchell did not get out of the car.
“They could’ve saved Christopher’s life,” Haynes said, arguing that officers did not provide medical attention to her son soon enough.
Haynes’ lawyers further criticized the department for releasing the video with narration, calling it “reckless,” while accusing the department of misrepresenting the situation.
They were particularly upset that Mitchell’s criminal record was included in the video.
“They assassinated his character in trying to paint him as a bad guy,” Carr said. “It was unnecessary and it served no legitimate policing purpose.”
He argued that the officers didn’t know about Mitchell’s criminal record when they approached the vehicle. Including it in the video now, he said, presents the situation unfairly.
Sgt. Ronald Harris, a spokesman for the police department, defended the city’s video in an interview with the Daily Breeze.
“The purpose of presenting this information is to provide factual information to the public,” he said in an earlier interview, before the family responded to the Daily Breeze.
Afterward, Harris did not respond to an email and phone calls requesting comment about the statements made by Haynes and her lawyers.
Harris has repeatedly emphasized that the matter was still under investigation.
“We released everything that we could,” he said, noting that additional information may come out at a later time.
“This was a situation that indicates poor training from Torrance police officers,” Carr said, echoing Haynes’ belief that officers should have tried to deescalate the situation before using their weapons.
“It’s a tragedy for all of those involved whenever there is an officer-involved shooting,” said Irvine, in the department’s video. “Although we train and work hard to deescalate volatile situations, often officers must react sometimes in a split-second.”
Haynes and activists from Black Lives Matter have long demanded the release of shooting footage. Even though the video is now public, it’s still not the end of the fight for Haynes.
“No one should have to go through this. I want the (civilian) oversight committee, and I want those officers prosecuted and fired, and I want them to go to jail,” she said. “I’m going to keep going back.”
