Three police officers in Decatur, Alabama have been fired and a fourth has been suspended after they fatally shot a man while his truck was being repossessed in September. The announcement came from the city’s mayor, according to CBS News 19.
Police shot Steve Perkins to death outside his home on September 29, right as a tow company attempted to repossess his truck. Video of the scene apparently shows the officers yelling “get on the group” almost immediately before they shot him. Three officers were fired, and a fourth who was “involved to a lesser degree” was suspended, Mayor Tab Bowling said at a news conference, reported by NBC News.
“It is now incumbent on us as a city, as people who love Decatur, to work to move forward — and to work to ensure that this tragedy is not forgotten or ignored,” Bowling reportedly said during the announcement.
Here’s what police said happened during the shooting in September happened, according to NBC News:
Decatur police said that the tow company called them around 1:30 a.m. and that a tow driver said they had tried to repossess a truck but that they fled after they were confronted by someone with a gun.
Officers and the tow driver then went to Perkins’ home, and Perkins emerged with a handgun, police said.
One officer fired a weapon, police have said.
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Decatur Police Chief Todd Pinion said he and Bowling shared the news of the termination of the officers with Perkins’ family before the announcement.
Pinion said last month that he believes police policies were violated in the deadly encounter.
“I have expressed my sorrow personally to the family of Mr. Perkins as well as publicly in prior messages, but I reiterate that sentiment here,” Pinion said in a statement Thursday.
However, a representative for Perkins’ family painted a much different picture of what happened that night.
A spokesman for Perkins’ family has said that from the neighbors’ security video that they saw, “it looked like an ambush of him not even knowing who was in his yard.” It is a dark neighborhood, and no police cars were visible, spokesperson Brenton Lipscomb has said.
Perkins’ family said in a statement that the truck payments were up to date, so the truck shouldn’t have been towed.
Mayor Bowling said he “listened intently” to the officers at their individual determination hearings earlier this week before he made his decision, NBC News reports.
Now, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is conducting a criminal investigation, and Bowling said there will be a “top-to-bottom” review of police policies and how information is shared with the public. He will be bringing in an outside expert to assist in the plan, according to NBC News
The officers’ names have not been released, and they will all have a chance to appeal.