Shocking tape shows police shooting of a 6-year-old boy
MARKSVILLE, LA.— After a police body camera captured two deputy city marshals firing on a car and killing a 6-year-old boy, the head of the Louisiana State Police said the video was the most disturbing thing he’s seen.
Nearly a year later, the public is getting its first look at the graphic footage.
The state judge presiding over the murder cases against the two deputies allowed reporters to make copies of the tape Wednesday after a hearing where it was formally introduced as evidence. Prosecutors and defence attorneys previously described in writing how the footage depicts the shooting, which stops less than a minute into the video. The rest of the nearly 14 minutes of footage shows the stomach-churning aftermath, as the officer with the body camera checks on the lifeless body of Jeremy Mardis while his critically wounded father, Christopher Few, lies bleeding on the pavement.
Prosecutors showed the tape in court Wednesday to support their claim that one of the deputies, Derrick Stafford, had a pattern of using excessive force — including last November’s fatal shooting of Jeremy Mardis in Marksville.
Defence attorneys for Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. argue the deputies acted in self-defence.
Stafford’s trial is scheduled for Nov. 28; Greenhouse on March 13, 2017.