WASHINGTON — Dashcam video from a fatal police shooting of an unarmed man in Fairfax County, Virginia more than five years ago has been released.
The video was released by the Fairfax County Police Department Wednesday following “several requests,” Chief Edwin Roessler said in a statement.
The video shows a pursuit leading up to the fatal shooting of David Masters on Nov. 13, 2009. In the video, an officer attempts to pull over a green Chevrolet Blazer driven by Masters on U.S. 1 in the Alexandria area.
Masters eventually got stuck in traffic, and an officer identified as David Ziants fired his gun. The shooting is not seen on camera, but the shots can be heard.
Masters, a former Army Green Beret, was unarmed, but had torn flowers out of a planter in front of a business, sparking the pursuit, The Washington Post reports.
In a statement accompanying the video, Roessler says, “In reaching my decision to release the in-car video, I considered the following factors: the local criminal investigation has been completed; the U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation has been completed; and there is no pending or threatened civil litigation. The involved officer was found to be in administrative violation of the Police Department’s General Order 540.1, Use of Force, and is no longer a member of the Fairfax County Police Department. I recognize the value of releasing the video to the community we proudly serve.”
Masters’ father, Barrie, 83, told the Post, “I am really distraught. It’s totally wiped me out. … How can we live in a world where a cop can just come up behind somebody, no matter what he thinks has been going on, and just shoot him in the back?”
He added, “The fact is, if David committed a crime, the most it was a misdemeanor for $5 worth of flowers.”
Gail Masters, David Masters’ ex-wife, told the Post that Masters suffered from bipolar disorder and that the police hadn’t contacted her about the release of the video, though she’s the executor of his estate.
“I’m still miserable,” she said. “I’ve been praying that they would charge [Ziants].”
The Post says that the Commonwealth’s Attorney ruled in 2010 that Ziants hadn’t committed a crime because he thought Masters was driving a stolen car, was reaching for a gun and had run over a different officer — none of which turned out to be true. Ziants was fired in 2011 by then-Chief David Rohrer,
Police did not give an exact reason why the video was released on Wednesday, but The Washington Post says in March, the department rejected its Freedom of Information Act request to allow a review of the case’s investigative file.
Warning: The video below may be disturbing and contains adult language.
