Aurora police have released a series of videos captured on body-worn camera, surveillance video and witness cellphones that show the events that led up to the fatal shooting of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield on Aug. 30.
The release came just hours after Belt-Stubblefield’s family and their team of attorneys held a news conference, saying the video shows “unjustifiable” and “excessive use of force.” Aurora police can release body camera video to the public 72 hours after the family has viewed it.
The body camera video shows roughly three minutes before and three minutes after shots were fired. The encounter between the officer and Belt-Stubblefield spans about 85 seconds from his first command to when the officer pulled the trigger.
Aurora police did not issue any new comment on the video release, instead referring Denver7 to comments made Sept. 2 by Police Chief Todd Chamberlain, in which he defended the officer and said he took several steps to de-escalate the situation. An attorney for Belt-Stubblefield’s family claimed Friday that the officer “could’ve very easily taken him into custody without hurting him.”
The incident began when an Aurora officer tried to pull Belt-Stubblefield over for a “routine” traffic stop, the chief said Sept. 2. We still don’t know why the officer was trying to stop Belt-Stubblefield, but Chamberlain had mentioned it was for either speeding or driving under the influence.
Belt-Stubblefield fled from the officer and crashed into a pair of cars at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Billings Street. The video released Friday begins in the seconds before that crash.
Parts of the ensuing confrontation are captured on surveillance video from the Sinclair gas station at that intersection, a nearby traffic camera, dashcam video from a driver and a pair of cellphone videos in addition to the officer’s body camera. Denver7 has reviewed all of the footage.
The officer, who has not been officially identified, approached Belt-Stubblefield’s car with his gun drawn. He made multiple demands for Belt-Stubblefield to put his hands in the air. Belt-Stubblefield disregarded those commands, got out of his car and walked toward the sidewalk.
At that point, about 14 seconds after the initial command, the officer tried to tackle or apprehend Belt-Stubblefield and was unsuccessful. It’s during that first physical contact that Belt-Stubblefield apparently tosses a handgun into the grass nearby.
Roughly 50 more seconds passed between the initial contact and the moment Belt-Stubblefield was shot three times. In those 50 seconds, Belt-Stubblefield could be heard telling two onlookers, one of whom is his son, to “get that [expletive]” while gesturing toward the grassy area where the gun was apparently thrown. The officer can be heard on body camera telling Belt-Stubblefield or the onlookers to “get away from that [expletive] gun.”
Belt-Stubblefield advanced toward the officer as the officer backed away, gun drawn, for an approximately 50-foot distance down the 6th Avenue sidewalk. During his retreat, the officer makes multiple commands to “get on the ground,” at one point warning Belt-Stubblefield: “I’ll shoot you.”
