New Mexico police have released scary camera footage showing an officer shooting a 75-year-old woman with dementia to death at her home last month.
Warning to the reader: The video below is graphic and disturbing.
The woman, Amelia Baka, was fighting with family members at her Las Cruces home when her daughter called police for help on April 16. Family members said Baka had mental health crisis.
A camera video of the body released by the city of Las Cruz on Tuesday in response to a request for public documents shows an officer pointing a gun at the door of the Baka home minutes after arriving at the scene.
Baka, who according to family members does not speak English, was holding two knives and shouting in Spanish.
The officer repeatedly shouted at him in English: “Drop the knife”, “Drop the knife”, “Do it”. 38 seconds later, he told her to “lower the knife” and fired two shots.
Below is the video. It’s graphic.
Body camera footage begins with the officer’s arrival at the home. As he neared the door, he asked the two women – Baca’s son and grandson – to come out.
The nephew, Albitar Ino, told the officer, “Please be careful of him” when it followed him.
Then Baka came out the door and holding a knife in each hand. Point the gun at Baka and start shouting to drop the knife.
Police last month A narrated video posted Contains edited portions of the call to emergency health services and very small portions of camera footage of the officer’s body at the scene.
At 911, Baka’s daughter told the operator: “I really need an agent, an ambulance or someone because my mother is very aggressive.”
“I was hiding in the room because it threatened to kill me,” he said. He told the operator that his mother had dementia.
The identity of the Las Cruces police officer is not public. He seems to be on administrative leave.
Baka’s family announced Thursday that they plan to file a civil case against the city and police. They also filed a murder charge against the district attorney.
“Let me be direct. “Amelia Baka was sentenced to death by the Las Cruz Police Department,” family attorney Sam Bregman told reporters. Las Cruces Sun News. “At the end of this senseless tragedy, Baka’s family politely requests that the district attorney accuse this agent of murder.
“You can’t go in front of someone’s door when they have a mental health crisis … and shoot them for 38 seconds after yelling,” Bregman said.
Shortly after the press conference, the city said in a statement it could not comment, the Sun News reported.
“First of all, we do not take such critical incidents lightly, especially when someone is killed,” the statement said. “We are reunited with Amelia Baka’s family and friends. “Every human life, regardless of the circumstances, is tragic”.
A local law enforcement team is investigating and sending the findings to District Attorney Gerald Byers.
Source: Huffpost
