A video has emerged purportedly showing the beginning of a chase that resulted with a Highway Patrol trooper fatally shooting a deaf driver two weeks ago.
The motorist, Daniel Harris, 29, of Charlotte, was shot during a traffic stop on Aug. 18. The shooting occurred amid a national debate over the use of deadly force by police.
The cell phone video, posted on ABC affiliate WSOC-TV, showed what appeared to be a trooper standing near his squad car, facing a blue car stopped on the exit ramp. The car drives away and the trooper runs around his squad car, hops in the driver’s side and begins his pursuit, the video showed.
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Two other men are seen in the video, but their involvement in the incident is unclear. The station said that it obtained the video from a motorist who was near the scene and that it had showed it to authorities who are investigating the incident.
The State Highway Patrol said in a statement that a trooper tried to pull over a motorist on Interstate 485 for speeding. The driver fled and after a brief pursuit pulled over and got out of his car.
There was an “encounter” with the officer where a shot was fired, the statement said. The driver died at the scene.
The State Bureau of Investigation has identified the driver in a statement as Harris and the officer as Trooper Jermaine Saunders.
Saunders has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure. The incident was being reviewed by the district attorney, the Highway Patrol and the State Bureau of Investigation.
“The police need to become aware of how to communicate with deaf people, what that might look like and how to avoid situations like this from ever happening again,” Harris’ brother Sam, who also is deaf, told WSOC through a sign-language interpreter.
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