NAACP to look into two fatal police-involved shootings in Virginia
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Version 0 of 1. The Norfolk chapter of the NAACP plans to look into two recent fatal police-involved shootings that have occurred in that area. Joe Dillard Jr., the president of the Norfolk chapter of the NAACP, said Wednesday the family of one of the two victims asked his office for help. He said that because the other killing happened recently, his office plans to also look into that one. “We want to make sure we have all the facts to figure out if these were justified or not,” Dillard said on Wednesday. Dillard said area residents have also raised concerns about whether the department is using body cameras in its policing efforts — an issue he plans to address in his investigations. He said he expects to reach out to officials at the state’s NAACP offices for assistance. [Man fatally wounded in officer-involved shooting in Fredericksburg] The two incidents, involving India Beaty, 25, and Tyre Privott, also 25, happened in the last few weeks. Beaty’s case unfolded around 1:20 a.m. March 19 when members of the Norfolk police department’s vice and narcotics unit were doing a “surveillance operation” in the 9500 block of Shore Drive. The investigators, according to a police statement, heard a man and a woman arguing. Police said the woman — who was later identified as Beaty — pulled out what appeared to be a gun, although a preliminary investigation later found that the weapon was not real. Beaty threatened the man, who was not armed, according to police. The investigators then left their vehicles and came up to Beaty. She was told to “‘get on the ground and let me see your hands,’” said Cpl. Melinda Wray, a spokeswoman for the Norfolk police department. “The man and another man who was nearby obeyed the officers’ commands and got on the ground,” Wray said. “Unfortunately, [Beaty] did not. “ Police said Beaty made “a threatening motion with the handgun.” Authorities did not reveal the details of what the motion involved. Both of the investigators shot Beaty. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The investigators involved in that shooting were not wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting, according to Wray. The Norfolk police department has about 750 sworn-officers and has issued 323 body-worn cameras. Another 140 body-worn cameras recently arrived at the department and are expected to be issued to officers in the field soon, officials said. The unit involved in the Beaty incident had not yet been issued the cameras at the time of the shooting, Wray said. That unit may get them but no specific date has been set. [What do we know about police body cameras? Survey says: Not much] The other incident took place on March 11, when police said Privott was found walking along a roadway and officers tried to approach him. Privott was believed to be involved in a homicide that had happened the night before in the city. There was a description of a suspect that appeared to match Privott and that’s what prompted officers to stop him, police officials said. As officers began to try to talk to Privott, he shot at them, police said. One of the officers returned fire, police said, and Privott was struck. He died at the scene. None of the officers was injured. The officer who shot at Privott is an 11-year veteran of the force, officials said. He had not been issued a body-worn camera and he was not wearing one at the time of the incident, according to police officials. Another officer, who was on the scene of the Privott incident, was wearing a department-issued body camera but it was not activated, authorities said. That officer had recently graduated from the police academy. “The circumstances surrounding the incident rapidly evolved, and did not allow the officer enough time to activate the camera,” police said in a statement. All four of the officers involved in both incidents are on administrative duty, per the department’s policy and pending ongoing investigations. Their names have not been revealed. The Virginian Pilot first reported on the NAACP’s decision to look into the two cases. Beaty’s father — McKinley Beaty — said his daughter may have had a fake gun to use as a prop in one of her rap videos, according to the Pilot’s article. But he said he does not believe she would point it at police officers. “I don’t know what kind of gesture she made for them to shoot her, but I don’t believe she would fight back,” McKinley Beaty said in the Pilot’s article. |