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NAACP says police altered killing video (Watch the video)
Footage from cruiser is released
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Video footage provided by the Charles County Sheriff's Office shows officer Eric Leukhardt running beside a Chevrolet Tahoe driven from a traffic stop by Cornelius Warren, who was shot by police during a struggle Oct. 2.
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About 20 minutes into an uneventful traffic stop and drug scan, the lights on Cornelius Warren's Tahoe flashes almost without warning. A split second later on a police video of the incident, the SUV kicks up a cloud of dust as it lurches away from police.
But a county activist who viewed the tape before the sheriff's office released it Wednesday said he believes someone altered the video between when he saw it last month and when it was made available to the press.
"What you saw on the video is not what we've seen. It's been tampered with," county NAACP President William Braxton said.
The dashboard camera footage released Wednesday, which captured the last few moments of Warren's life, shows sheriff's officer Stephen Miller swing his body into the sport utility vehicle as it speeds off-screen, another police cruiser following close behind. The video didn't record the ensuing struggle, which happened outside the camera's line of sight. But police say that after the SUV accelerated down a Pisgah driveway, Warren tried to wrestle away Miller's handgun. A pair of sheriff's officers shot at Warren 11 times, hitting him with eight of the bullets, authorities believe.
The footage, which is without sound, charts the Oct. 2 incident, from a traffic stop at a gravel driveway about a mile from Warren's home to the search of his Chevrolet Tahoe and the alleged discovery of crack cocaine and marijuana worth more than $16,000, according to police. It was after the drugs were allegedly discovered that Warren, 44, threw his SUV into gear and drove a short distance around the circular driveway, where sheriff's officers fired the rounds that ended his life.
While Warren's family and the county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have condemned the shooting, a grand jury last week found that the officers' actions didn't constitute a crime. The Charles County State's Attorney's Office concluded the shooting was "not unreasonable" given the danger Warren posed to the officers when he tried to grab Miller's gun.
"We're going to be second-guessed every time we use deadly force, and that's appropriate," said Maj. Joseph Montminy during a Wednesday press conference.
However, he cautioned against "Monday morning quarterbacking" and said "the deputy was in a life-and-death situation that all unfolded in a matter of seconds."
Braxton alleged that in the version of the tape he saw during a meeting with Sheriff Rex W. Coffey last month, Miller climbed into the SUV and shut the door before the Tahoe started to move.
"We … are going to talk to the sheriff's department to explain what we saw and see if he's going to look us in the eye and tell us the tapes haven't been altered," he said.
Diane Richardson, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said apart from masking the face of Warren's passenger, the sheriff's office hasn't changed the footage since showing it to NAACP members.
The passenger, whose name has not been released, has his face obscured by digital manipulation in the video released Wednesday.
"It is unfortunate Mr. Braxton is questioning our integrity," she said. "The video we released to the media is the same video that was shown to Mr. Braxton immediately following the shooting with the exception that we did protect the passenger's face."
The recording begins at about 3:25 p.m. as Miller pulls over Warren for reportedly driving 11 miles per hour over the speed limit on Masons Spring Road, a two-lane highway bordered by scattered homes. Before stopping his Tahoe, Warren turned onto Nelson Point Road and pulled into an unpaved driveway.
What follows seems fairly routine: a brief conversation at the SUV window and Warren passing over his license and registration. Miller told Warren that if he had a clean driving record, he wouldn't be ticketed, and the officer ended up writing him a warning, according to Montminy.
But when Miller returned to the SUV, he reportedly saw Warren move a bag behind him. Suspicious, the officer radioed for a drug-detecting dog, which was brought to the scene by Cpl. John Freeman.
Before the dog scans the SUV, Warren, wearing a necklace and a black shirt with a white design, walks from his SUV to the cruiser with his hands raised. His passenger also gets out of the Tahoe.
The footage captures Warren talking and gesturing while Miller searches him, but the situation doesn't appear heated. Warren turns away from the camera and moves out of view while a German shepherd circles the SUV twice, sniffing at it, but displaying no unusual behavior.
The dog's composed manner indicates he was not giving an alert to the presence of drugs, according to the sheriff's office. Warren and his passenger look calm as they return to the Tahoe after about two minutes waiting near Miller's cruiser.
Drumming his fingers against the roof of his car, Warren waits for the next few minutes until Miller comes back, the footage shows; according to police, the officer was still suspicious about the bag he saw. During the following conversation, Warren passes a small brown bag to Miller, who looks through it and returns it to Warren, the footage shows. The officer didn't think the brown bag was what he'd seen earlier, Richardson said.
Repeatedly pointing to the back of the SUV as he speaks, Miller persuaded Warren to let him search the Tahoe, according to police. The reason Warren granted the request — even though drugs were found in the SUV — is unknown, Richardson said.
"We can't speculate, but perhaps Mr. Warren had already made up his mind about what he was going to do," Richardson said.
To begin their search, Miller and backup officer Eric Leukhardt lean through the rear doors of the Tahoe; that's when they found a brick of marijuana, Montminy said. Later, officers located crack cocaine in a locked center console of the SUV, as well as a digital scale and plastic baggies, according to police. Warren's fingerprints were discovered on the drug packaging, police reported.
"It's not a little bit of drugs," said Montminy during the press conference.
If he'd been arrested, Warren would have been charged with drug possession with intent to distribute, a felony that could be penalized by up to 20 years in prison, according to the sheriff's office.
On the video, once the officers allegedly found the marijuana brick, Miller walks slowly to Warren's door and opens it up.
Suddenly, everything speeds up. Miller jumps into the driver's seat as the SUV takes off, and Leukhardt, who is at the back passenger-side door, runs alongside the Tahoe for a short distance before the vehicle accelerates off camera.
Freeman drives his cruiser behind the SUV as it drifts to a stop; Miller was able to force it into neutral, Montminy said. Inside the SUV, Warren reached beside his seat, and concerned that the Pisgah man had a weapon, Miller drew his gun, according to a press release issued by the state's attorney's office.
At the left edge of the camera shot, Freeman is seen leaving his car. But the recording doesn't show the officer fire at Warren; he was reportedly fighting for Miller's handgun, stated the press release.
"The second deputy comes and sees the first deputy in a struggle and tries to save the deputy's life," Montminy said.
Even after being shot, Warren continued to fight police, and both Freeman and Miller quickly fired the rounds, according to the press release, which was based on the accounts of sheriff's officers and the SUV passenger.
Forensic evidence was consistent with the narrative, the release stated.
The video concludes as someone drives Miller's cruiser toward a home at the end of the driveway, passing Warren's SUV. The front doors of the Tahoe are open, and two sheriff's officers kneel beside the SUV. Richardson said they performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Warren until rescue workers arrived. Warren's body is not visible in the video.
Since Friday's decision by the grand jury, Miller, Freeman and Leukhardt are back in service with the sheriff's office, police reported.
Cpl. Jason Hopkins, president of the Charles County chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said his group is pleased with the grand jury's decision. He said it's significant that the review by a panel of randomly selected citizens ended without an indictment.
"It's a good feeling knowing you had to do something no one wants to do, but people understand why you did it," Hopkins said.
Warren's family plans to file a lawsuit against the sheriff's office in connection with the shooting, said attorney F. Scott Lucas last month at a press conference. Thursday, Lucas said he can't comment on the video until he receives a complete recording.
"It's my understanding from someone who's seen the recording that [the released video] is not the full footage," Lucas said.
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