New Video Shows Fatal Shooting of Black Man Stopped for Jaywalking
Written by SOURCE on February 19, 2021
The Orange County Sherriff’s Office has released video of the fatal police shooting of 42-year-old Kurt Andras Reinhold in San Clemente.
The video shows several angles of the shooting, which occurred after two homeless liaison officers stopped Reinhold for allegedly jaywalking. Taken together, they show the entirety of the stop, which ended in Reinhold being shot to death by one of the policemen. The first begins with dashcam footage and audio from the officers’ microphones. The officers appear to argue whether or not Reinhold jaywalked by walking through an intersection against the light before confronting him. The microphones pick up arguments between the officers and Reinhold, who repeatedly asks why he’s being stopped and yells at the officers for placing their hands on him.
The second clip shows the officers attempting to detain Reinhold, shot from a cell phone across the street. The pair can be seen wrestling Reinhold to the ground. The video loses track of the three men when gunshots ring out, as the witness flees to duck behind a nearby car.
A third clip comes from surveillance footage, and the Sherriff’s Office has edited it to circle Reinhold’s hand when they claim he was reaching for one of the officer’s guns.
Reinhold’s death sparked protests in Southern California and his family has sued the department, claiming wrongful death. The family released a statement following the video being shared, saying that it proved the stop was illegitimate.
“The new footage released by the OC Sheriff’s office today confirms what we knew all along – the involved deputies had no reason to stop Mr. Reinhold,” they said, per the Orange County Register. “The Officers can be heard disagreeing about whether he had jaywalked or not since he had crossed at the controlled intersection.”
