Lawsuit Claims Boston Police Officer Lied About Wearing His Body Camera During Fatal Shooting

[Nevilledog]

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ally jarmanning
@allyjarmanning
The family of a man shot and killed by police say a Boston police officer lied about not having his body camera on during the shooting. They point to video they say shows him taking off his camera and tossing it into his cruiser.

Lawsuit Claims Boston Police Officer Lied About Wearing His Body Camera During Fatal Shooting
The family of Juston Root also claims that the Boston Police Department is refusing to turn over information about its own investigation into the officer's body camera usage. They want a judge to...
wbur.org
3:40 PM · May 5, 2021

https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/05/05/boston-police-shooting-juston-root-body-camera

The family of a man shot and killed by police last year alleges in a new court filing that one of the Boston officers involved lied about not wearing his body camera during the shooting.

The family of Juston Root also claims that the Boston Police Department refuses to turn over information about its own investigation into the officer's body camera usage.

The officer in question is David Godin, a 20-year veteran who was the first police officer to approach Root as he wielded a paintball gun near Brigham and Women's Hospital on Feb. 7, 2020. He shot at Root at that scene, and was part of the car chase that ended in a Chestnut Hill parking lot. There, four Boston police officers and one state trooper fired 31 shots at Root, killing him.

In interviews with investigators five days after the shooting, Godin said he wasn't wearing his body camera at all, even though department policy required it. He said the camera was in his duty bag.

“I don’t keep it on my body unless I get out for a call,” he told investigators.

Godin repeated that explanation in a sworn statement as part of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Root family.

*snip*

[uponit7771]

1. But every LEO deserves the benefit of the doubt EVERY SINGLE TIME hunh? Too many of these thugs

... literally don't pay enough of a penalty within our legal system to stop acting like fuckin terrorist to communities they're supposed to serve.

[stillcool]

2. I don't remember this one...

or maybe they're all so similar they bleed together

August 11, 2020
Amy Gorel

Despite being shot, Root was able to run to his car and leave the scene. Officers gave chase as he drove toward Brookline on Route 9. The suit alleges that officers attempted to deliberately strike his vehicle.

Later, Root collided with another vehicle in the Chestnut Hill area. When he got out of his vehicle, he stumbled and collapsed on the ground, and, the lawsuit alleges, an EMT in the area attended to him briefly before the officers pursuing Root told her to step away.

The lawsuit says that each of the defendants provided statements after the incident that they did not see Root brandish a weapon at any time in Chestnut Hill. The officers shouted at Root to get down, though he was still on the ground. Then, the suit alleges, the officers opened fire with 31 shots in three seconds. (This echos the Norfolk District Attorney's report from March that Root was shot 26 times within 3.5 seconds and 31 shell casing were recovered at the scene.)
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In the immediate moments after the shooting, the officers congratulated each other with phrases like "Yeah, I killed that motherf-----" and "I emptied my magazine on him." The officers also appeared to discuss how to cover up their actions: “You got a [union] rep coming?” “I won’t talk,” “I gotta get out of here,” according to the court filing.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/08/11/boston-police-wrongful-death-lawsuit