The Zachary Hammond shooting video from the dash cam of Lt. Mark Tiller was released on Tuesday, and the video of the Seneca police officer shooting Zachary to death is causing controversy.
Warning : The video below showing Hammond being shot to death might be upsetting to some viewers.
Zachary was shot to death by Tiller after the police officer pulled up to Hammond, busting up a marijuana and cocaine deal. The video shows Tiller, who isn’t dressed in an officer’s uniform, pulling his weapon and apparently ordering Zachary to stop. The dash cam video of the shooting has caused Zachary’s father, Paul Hammond, to vow to “keep fighting” for justice after Zachary’s shooting , reports Greenville News ?.
In the video, Tiller yells at Zachary that he’s going to shoot Hammond.
“I’m gonna shoot your f****** a**.”
Zachary’s dad Paul just watched the video of Tiller shooting Hammond on Tuesday. After viewing the video, the senior Hammond vowed to continue his fight for justice for Zachary. It took three months for the public to get to witness the video of Hammond being shot, because cops wouldn’t release the video of Tiller shooting Zachary in all that time. After the video showing Zachary being shot was reviewed by Chrissy Adams, no criminal charges were filed against Tiller for his role in the shooting.
Update on the #ZacharyHammond case, smh. —> No Charges Against Upstate Officer Who Killed Man https://t.co/9utgfGuz99 via @WLTX
— Kimmie Dee (@KimmieIs2Real) October 27, 2015
The fact that Tiller will face no criminal charges for shooting and killing 19-year-old Zachary, with Hammond unarmed at the time of the shooting , has caused a minor furor to break out among those who believe Tiller should face punishment. As reported by the Guardian ?, Adams claimed that because Zachary didn’t stop as Tiller ordered, Hammond died.
“Zachary Hammond failed to comply with Lt Tiller’s orders and as a result he lost his life. When Hammond made the conscious decision to flee a lawful stop he set in motion this tragic chain of events.”
The drug deal ironically got exposed only because a woman in the car with Zachary, Tori Morton, mistakenly texted a state trooper from Hammond’s phone whose phone number was only one digit away from her buyer’s phone number. When Tiller arrived and ordered Zachary to stop as Hammond tried to drive away, Tiller shot Zachary twice through the driver’s side window, as seen in the video. Tiller is then heard via the video claiming that Hammond tried to hit him with his car.
“He tried to hit me.”
Before the video of Zachary being shot was released to the public, Tiller’s lawyer John Mussetto had claimed that Hammond intentionally tried to hit Tiller with his car. Instead, viewers of the Zachary shooting video note that it appears that Hammond was trying to drive around and avoid Tiller, not hit him.
“Rather than abide by this order, Mr. Hammond rapidly reversed his vehicle towards Lt Tiller’s patrol vehicle. Mr. Hammond then rapidly accelerated in the direction of Lt Tiller, forcing the lieutenant to push off of Mr Hammond’s car to keep from being struck and run over.”
A second dash cam video of the situation following the shooting of Zachary has also been released. The second video shows the aftermath of the shooting of Hammond from another patrol car, as police and EMT tend to Zachary, taking his body out of the car and dealing with Hammond on the ground after the shooting, as reported by WYFF Greenville ?.
Although protocol dictates that Tiller should’ve taken a stance behind his vehicle in order to make the arrest, experts claim it wasn’t illegal for Tiller to run up to Zachary’s car in that manner. The Department of Justice will investigate the Hammond shooting further, but isn’t expected to bring charges against Tiller in the shooting of Zachary.
[Image via New York Daily News /YouTube]