Ex-Mesa officer: I was ‘sad’ after killing man
Philip Brailsford testifies about 2016 incident that led to hotel guest’s death
A former Mesa police officer on trial in the fatal on-duty shooting of an unarmed Texas man who begged for his life testified Wednesday that he was “incredibly sad” after he killed him.
Philip Brailsford, 27, who is charged with second-degree murder in the 2016 death of Daniel Shaver, 27, gave his first public account of the shooting in Maricopa County Superior Court.
“I felt incredibly sad for him. I assume he had a family,” Brailsford said. “When I received knowledge that he was unarmed, I was in further disbelief.”
Shaver’s widow, Laney Sweet, began to cry shortly after his words.
Shaver’s mother also cried moments before, when Brailsford’s lawyer, Michael Piccarreta showed his client stills of video footage depicting the moments before the former officer fired his AR-15 rifle.
Brailsford defended himself in his testimony, saying he feared for his and his fellow officers’ lives. He thought Shaver was reaching for a gun, he said.
Video footage depicting the shooting on two police officers’ on-body cameras, including Brailsford’s, show Shaver was confused by some of Sgt. Charles Langley’s commands. Langley has since retired from the Mesa Police Department.
At one point, while Shaver was on his knees, he put his hands behind his back and he was ordered to put his hands back up in the air. Langley warned that if he put his hands behind his back again, he was going to be shot, the video shows.
Shaver began to cry and said, “Please don’t shoot me.”
Trying to follow Langley’s commands, Shaver then began crawling on his hands and knees toward the six officers who were at the scene, the video shows. Three of them, including Langley, had their AR-15s pointed at Shaver.
But Shaver stopped crawling and raised his right hand near his waistband, prompting Brailsford to fire five shots, the video shows. Police reports later said Shaver could have been trying to pull up his athletic shorts.
“I thought he was reaching for a weapon, and I thought someone was
“I felt incredibly sad for him. I assume he had a family. When I received knowledge that he was unarmed, I was in further disbelief.”
Philip Brailsford Former Mesa police officer, testifying about 2016 incident that led to the death of hotel guest Daniel Shaver
Brailsford also said he couldn’t sleep for 72 hours after the shooting and was in shock for that period. He said he learned that Shaver was unarmed a day after the shooting, during an interview with an investigator.
going to get shot,” Brailsford told the jury.
Piccarreta asked Brailsford if the fact that Shaver had been crying entered his mind as he decided to shot.
“No, that didn’t enter my mind. We’re not trained necessarily to pay attention to what a suspect is saying,” Brailsford answered. “We’re supposed to watch their actions and what they do with their hands.”
Brailsford also said he couldn’t sleep for 72 hours after the shooting and was in shock for that period. He said he learned that Shaver was unarmed a day after the shooting, during an interview with an investigator.
When Brailsford arrived at the Mesa La Quinta Inn, he was hoping the situation wouldn’t escalate and would turn into a routine arrest, he said.
Officers were called to the hotel after a guest outside reported seeing a man with a gun pointed out of an upper-room window.
“I simply wanted him to crawl towards us, not put his hands behind his back, and put him into custody and let the criminal justice system take care of it,” Brailsford said.
He said the situation escalated when Shaver put his hands behind his back after being told to keep them in the air.
Brailsford said that his training as a cadet showed him that such a movement usually means a suspect is checking for a weapon placed on his or her waistband.
Brailsford didn’t shoot that moment, even though that could have been perceived as a threat, he testified.
“I hesitated,” said Brailsford, who along with Officer Brian Elmore, was in charge of firing their weapons if they perceived a threat.
As he testified, Brailsford’s family, including his wife, with whom he has a 3-year-old son, sat behind the defense table.
A few members of the Mesa police union, who have been attending the proceedings since the trial began last month, sat behind the family.
During his testimony, Shaver’s mother cried and walked out of the courtroom at times. Shaver’s father, who has been wearing a necklace with a wooden pendant with his son’s name inscribed on it, rested his hand behind his wife’s back, trying to console her.
Brailsford had told the jury he was nervous. But he seemed to relax during his two-hour testimony.
In the beginning, he told the jury he graduated from Mesa Desert Ridge High School in 2009 and shortly after spent time in Ecuador on a Mormon mission.
Before going on his mission, he enrolled at Mesa Community College. After he returned, he signed up with the Arizona National Guard before being hired by the Mesa Police Department in 2013, he testified. He married his wife five years ago, he said.
The shooting occurred on Jan. 18, 2016, while Shaver was staying at the Mesa La Quinta Inn. Police were called to the hotel about a person pointing a gun out of a fifth-floor window. A couple inside a hotel hot tub told staff that they saw a silhouette with a gun pointed toward a nearby highway.
Police later found that Shaver had a blood-alcohol level of 0.29 percent, nearly four times the legal limit of 0.08 percent for when a person is presumed too drunk to drive. Investigators found a pellet gun inside his hotel room, which he kept with him as part of his job as a pest-control worker.
Shaver, who had two daughters, was in Mesa from Granbury, Texas, working for his father-in-law’s pestcontrol company. He grew up in Nashville, where his parents still live.
If convicted, Brailsford could face 10 to 25 years in prison.
He will take the stand again today, when Deputy County Attorney Susie Charbel will continue with her cross-examination of Brailsford.