The James Boyd shooting incident that took place on March 16 last year has now resulted in two Albuquerque police officers to be charged with murder. According to The Inquisitr, the ACLU and police union have both retorted the judge's decision in the case of the James Boyd shooting involving Officer Dominique Perez and now-retired Keith Sandy.
APD officers to stand trial for murder in shooting of James Boyd https://t.co/ZyoKBJXKnI via @KOB4 #AllLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/rlehJPiZcu
— Say No to the TPP (@kencampbell66) August 19, 2015
According to the family of Zachary Hammond, a police officer shot and killed their son in the back after what was supposed to simply be a marijuana drug bust has gone totally wrong. A witness also claimed seeing the cop who killed Hammond, giving the dead teen's hand a "high five" after the shooting, now named the James Boyd shooting.
The incident that took place on March 16, 2014 happened as reports were sent to the Albuquerque Police Department of homeless man James Boyd illegally camping in the Sandia Mountains foothills. The recording obtained at the patrol car's dashboard camera revealed Officer Sandy referring to Boyd as a "f*****g lunatic."
Boyd has reportedly spent much of his life as an adult in a psychiatric hospital.
After Sandy made the "lunatic" comment, he said in the recording, "I'm going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second."
Before the James Boyd shooting took place, the two Albuquerque police officers first tried persuading Boyd to leave the mountain. However, that quickly turned into a stand-off, with the cops justifying the James Boyd shooting and death as a form of self-defense. They reportedly claimed that Boyd had wielded two knives as he argued with the cops.
Unfortunately for Boyd, the knives were fake, and he was also schizophrenic. What took place before the James Boyd shooting was shown in the video below, reported The Inquisitr. Some say it shows Boyd seemed to have surrendered already but the cops still shot him in the back. An autopsy has confirmed that the homeless man was killed with a gunshot on the back.
The James Boyd video is being used as evidence for the family's case, according to Shannon Kennedy, Boyd's family's lawyer.
Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy are now facing second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges.
The James Boyd shooting case is the first time the Albuquerque Police Department's officers are being tried for murder after actions while on the job, reported KOAT 7 ABC.
The enquiry into the James Boyd shooting and death came after the city's deal with the Justice Department last fall over reformation of the Albuquerque Police Department, which has been scrutinized for more than two dozen deaths caused by police shootings since 2010, according to NBC News. The Albuquerque Police Department is now being independently monitored to ensure that new training and protocols for investigations are being implemented.
