DELAWARE — Bodycam video released Tuesday shows New Castle County Police officers shooting Lymond Moses, leaving him dead during an incident that happened in January.
The incident unfolded in Wilmington’s Riverside neighborhood just after 1am on January 13.
According to the footage, the officers approached Moses’s vehicle after finding him sleeping in the driver’s seat with the engine idling.
County police said the officers were “proactively patrolling” the area following a “significant increase in the number of vehicles stolen from within New Castle County”.
Officers tell Moses why they approached him in the first place and point out they can see weed in the car.
Moses repeatedly tells officers that his mom lives nearby and that his car is not stolen.
One of the officers then ask Moses to step out of the car, urging him to cooperate — but he drives away and ends up at a dead end.
The officers get back in their vehicles and pursue Moses for a short distance.
Officers can then be seen getting back out of their cars as Moses attempts to turn around.
“Stop the (f#####g) car,” an officers tells Moses as he reverses further down the street. “Don’t (f#####g) do it, don’t do it,” the officers can be heard shouting.
Moses accelerates in an apparent attempt to get around the officers — who open fire multiple times, striking Moses’ vehicle as he crashes into the front of a police cruiser.
Police initially said that Moses drove “directly at” them “at a high rate of speed,” causing them to open fire.
During a press conference, Moses’ wife, two sisters and a family attorney said the newly released video refutes that, saying that “he actually veered away from the officers in an attempt not to hit them”.
Moses’ mom said he was on the block to visit her, something he did several times a week, and that he may have fallen asleep in his car before heading home to his wife and three children.
New Castle County Police said the investigation over the deadly shooting is ongoing.
“Based upon this video, we cannot draw any conclusions as to whether the officers acted within policy and the law until all the facts are known and the investigation is complete,” said New Castle County Police Lt. Brian Faulkner.
The names of the officers involved have not been released.