Detroit Police photo
Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Chair Daryll Woods sent a letter Aug. 19 to Detroit Police Chief James White urging the release of footage “for the purposes of clarity” in a shooting that has been a “topic of conversation for the last month.”
Still, the police department has refused to release the video of a court bailiff’s July 12 fatal shooting of Sherman Lee Butler during an eviction at his Palmer Park apartment, reports Violet Ikonomova of the Detroit Free Press.
The Freep reports that police say the bailiff shot Butler, who was armed with a box cutter knife, and “attacked” the bailiff and lunged toward an officer called to the scene. The officer had first attempted to subdue Butler with a Taser, but was unsuccessful, police said, according to the Freep.
The department first issued a statement on the killing five weeks after it happened.
The Justice Coalition issued a statement last week saying the police department's version is “suspicious at best,” adding “We need to see the footage!” the Freep reports.
