On Thursday, dashcam video was published by WPTV, which depicted an encounter between 20-year-old Dontrell Stephens and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Lin that left Stephens paralyzed from the waist down in September 2013.
The video shows Lin trailing Stephens, as Stephens rides on his bicycle while talking on his cellphone. Stephens pulls off to the side of the road, gets off of his bicycle, walks towards Lin and out of the dash cam’s frame, with his cellphone in his right hand.
Four seconds later Stephens reappears in the video and Lin opens fire, shooting Stephens four times.
WPTV noted that Stephens has a criminal record for possessing cocaine, and that the release of the video is part of a joint investigation into police shootings as part of a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed against Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
A second Deputy arrived at the scene, and the video shows Lin defending himself, saying, “He starts backing away. I said, ‘Get on the ground, get on the ground.‘”
The other deputy replies, “I got your back man. I got your back. Hey, you hear me?”
Continue reading “DROP THE CELL PHONE OR I’LL SHOOT”
