New cellphone video appears to show Officer Matthew Taylor shooting James Barker three times in the back as he was lying handcuffed and face down on the ground
Those cellphone videos are playing hell with cops. Here we have a case where Salt Lake City police officer Matthew Taylor was exonerated for shooting dead James Dudley Barker after a scuffle last January. But now a cellphone video has surfaced which appears to show Taylor shooting Barker three times in the back as he was lying handcuffed and face down on the ground.
If that’s what really happened, my guess is that the officer did it because he was pissed off at Barker for breaking his arm and foot during the scuffle. Taylor must have forgotten Sir Robert Peel’s golden rule: “No quality is more indispensable to a policeman than a perfect command of temper.”
COP EXONERATED FOR SHOOTING DEAD MAN WHO HIT HIM WITH A SNOW SHOVEL FACES NEW INVESTIGATION AFTER VIDEO EMERGES SHOWING HIM ‘FIRING THREE BULLETS INTO THE HANDCUFFED SUSPECTS BACK AS HE LAY IN THE GROUND’
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill is taking seriously new evidence made public on Friday in the death of 42-year-old James Dudley Barker that apparently shows Officer Matthew Taylor shooting Barker in the back while he was lying on the ground handcuffed
Associated Press and Daily Mail
January 10, 2016
The Salt Lake County District Attorney says he will re-open the investigation into a fatal police shooting after new video surfaced that appears to show the man on the ground when he was shot.
District Attorney Sim Gill said he is taking seriously the new evidence made public on Friday in the death of 42-year-old James Dudley Barker, who was killed on January 8, 2015, after hitting an officer with a snow shovel.
Gill says he is also looking into why his office did not see the video - which apparently shows Barker being shot in the back three times while handcuffed - during the original police investigation of the shooting.
'Our job and our commitment has always been as thorough and open and transparent as we can, so we are going to do our due diligence to re-examine what we have,' Gill told The Salt Lake Tribune.
He ruled in February 2015 that Salt Lake City Police Officer Matthew Taylor was justified when he fired the shots because Barker was reaching for the officer's gun.
The exonerated cop had a body camera, but the video cut out after he was hit with the shovel and before the shooting.
In the newly surfaced footage, Barker is seen lying face down on the ground as Taylor kneels over him and what sounds like muffled gunshots can be heard before he walks away.
As the officer kneels down over Barker, former Davis County sheriff, William J 'Dub' Lawrence, said three sounds heard are gunshots.
Moments later, sirens are heard sounding off as another officer is shown arriving at the scene.
At one point in the video, a man is seen approaching the scene but a short time later walks away and crosses the street.
The footage was taken on a cellphone from a neighbor's window, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The shooting last year followed a heated argument between Taylor and Barker, who got angry when the officer confronted him with reports he was acting suspiciously.
The footage from that video shows the officer get out of his patrol car and approach the man, who claimed to be offering to clear snow from houses in a suburb of the city - despite there being little snow on the ground.
The officer said: 'I've had a couple of people call about you saying we don't have any snow to be removed - I wonder what you're doing in the area... I've had neighbors call saying they saw you looking in cars yesterday.'
Barker claimed to have a business license but would not give details, or tell the officer his name when asked. He later said he was looking for business ahead of time for when it snowed again.
When questioned and asked again for his name - then threatened with arrest - he shouted repeatedly: 'I'm doing my business', then said 'I'm trying to make a living.'
The police officer radios for backup, and tells Barker to calm down. When he doesn't, the officer pushes him back, and Barker retaliates.
In the ensuing fight, the policeman drew his pistol and shot Barker dead. A witness to the confrontation at the time said that Barker was shot three times.
Following the incident, police said at the time that Taylor was transported to the hospital and found to have multiple fracture before being treated and released.
The Salt Lake Police Association said in a statement that they believe Taylor did not shoot Barker while he was handcuffed and that they have 'full confidence the supplemental investigation will confirm the original justified ruling.'
The statement also said they appreciate evidence anyone brings forward, but 'to speculate regarding a conspiracy theory is both irresponsible and unproductive.'
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