Man shot by Memphis police officer in 2017 pleads guilty
Davonte Weatherford, who last week released body camera footage of a Memphis police officer shooting him, pleaded guilty Tuesday to reckless endangerment, theft, unlawful possession of a weapon and evading arrest, according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s office.
The charges stem from when Weatherford was shot in the back by a Memphis police officer on Sept. 8, 2017, in a Frayser parking lot. Officers responded to a call of armed men in the area.
Other men ran when police came, but Weatherford said he initially did not.
Body camera footage released by Weatherford to The Commercial Appeal last week shows the officer saying “You run again, I’m going to kill you!” seconds before two shots were fired from a police car.
The DA’s office said Weatherford will be sentenced in January by Criminal Court Judge John Campbell, who approved the settlement.
The pistol Weatherford was carrying was reported stolen on Oct. 28, 2015, from a man in Walls, Mississippi, the district attorney’s office said. Weatherford did not have any local criminal charges prior to being shot.
Accounts of what occurred during Weatherford’s shooting differ. In the body camera footage, an officer can be heard saying Weatherford pointed his gun at the officer before shots were fired.
On the night of the shooting, the police department released a statement: “Officers pursued, at which time one of the suspects reportedly turned and pointed a handgun at the officers.”
In a later affidavit, it notes that Weatherford had a gun but did not indicate whether it was pointed at the officer.
Weatherford said he was running from officers and was cut off by a police car driving behind him.
The body camera footage does not show a clear image of Weatherford until after he had been shot. Weatherford told The Commercial Appeal he obtained the gun he was carrying that day for “protection.”
The footage — which Weatherford first released on his Facebook page, then to The Commercial Appeal — has since spread on social media. Local activists and residents have questioned the actions of the police officer during the encounter.
Weatherford said he is still looking to pursue a civil suit but has not yet obtained a lawyer to do so.