DES MOINES, Iowa ( Associated Press) — Police have refused to release body camera video of Des Moines, Iowa, officers who shot a 16-year-old boy during a domestic dispute last month, calling the minor a “criminal shown performing the act.
The Des Moines Register reported that police were preparing to release video of all four officers involved in the December 26 incident before the city legal department intervened. The state attorney general’s office has already ruled that the officers were right to shoot because the youth had pointed the gun at them multiple times.
So far the officials have not disclosed the name of the youth.
Des Moines police spokesman Sergeant Paul Parizek said city attorneys told police the video could not be released under state law. He said the law prohibits the dissemination of records of a minor who has allegedly committed an offense before a complaint is received. He said that the law applies in this case, despite the fact that the youth died and would not be charged.
The Register reported that it would continue to request dissemination of the video through the courts.
The three officers who shot the youth — Noah Bollinger, Zachary Deutscher and Thomas Garcy — remain on administrative leave while the department assesses what happened.
Police have said that the officers tried to calm the situation by talking to the youth for 4 minutes 20 seconds. Both the officers and relatives present there at that time asked the youth to drop the gun more than 70 times, but the youth refused.
