A woman who ran to the scene after police fatally shot 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez on Monday said she tried to film the aftermath of the killing but was told “don’t you dare” by a police officer.
Brianna Diaz, whose house was near the scene of the shooting and whose teen sister was in a car with Hernandez when the shooting took place, told the Denver Post this week that she heard the gunshots and ran to the scene with her mother.
“My mom told me to start filming, but when I took out my phone, the cop was like, ‘Don’t you dare!'” Diaz told the Post.
Diaz also said a cop grabbed her mother and tried to calm her down, according to the paper.
A neighbor recorded the scene from across the street, showing police handcuffing Hernandez and placing her next to the street, according to footage obtained by KUSA and broadcast on Tuesday.
“He’s dead,” a voice can be heard saying on the video, apparently referring to Hernandez. Another witness told the station she thought the police mistook Hernandez for a boy because of her short hair.
KUSA also reported that an eyewitness contradicted the police account of the shooting.
The witness, one of the other teenagers in the car, said the officers shot Hernandez through the driver’s side window, causing the teenager to lose control of the car and hit one of the cops in the leg.
Denver Police Chief Robert White had said on Monday that Hernandez drove into one of the officers first, which then prompted the cops to open fire into the car.
Hernandez’s mother has demanded a second, independent investigation into the death of her daughter, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
h/t PINAC
