A graphic video captured late last year from a Louisiana police body camera shows officers firing 18 rounds into a car, which unknowingly led to the death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis, who was autistic.
Authorities say the situation unfolded last November after officers began chasing the boy’s father, Christopher Few, after he drove off from a domestic disturbance incident with his girlfriend.
The chase ended with Few cornered on a dead-end street in Marksville, La. Few was critically wounded in the shooting. In the video, an EMT on the scene pronounces Mardis dead after he was hit by five bullets in the head and chest.
The Superintendent of the Louisiana State Police called the video “the most disturbing thing I’ve seen.”
Defense attorneys say the two deputies acted in self-defense and claimed Few rammed into a squad car before they fired. However, state District Court Judge William Bennett said the video doesn’t show Few using his car as a “deadly weapon” ahead of the shooting.
Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, and Derrick Stafford, 32, were charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. They were placed on administrative leave. Greenhouse’s trial is set for March, and Stafford’s set for November.
The video was released as part of an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.
The video can be viewed here, but warning, it is graphic.
