Notes on police violence
Unarmed 25-year-old shot nine times at close range by US Park Police
By
Harvey Simpkins
27 January 2018
US Park Police gunned down Bijan Ghaisar in his vehicle after he was the victim in a minor traffic incident on November 17 of last year. Ghaisar was unarmed. Police dashcam video of the incident was not made available until last Wednesday, January 24.
Ghaisar was initially hit from behind by another vehicle in a minor car accident, with little property damage and no injuries. The accident occurred in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington. Ghaisar drove away from the accident.
Police shooting of Bijan Ghaisar
Approximately 10 minutes after driving away, video recorded by a Fairfax County police officer’s dashcam starts. In the video, Park Police are seen following Ghaisar’s vehicle in a marked SUV, with lights and sirens on. After Ghaisar stopped his car in the right lane, the police stopped alongside him. Immediately, an officer jumped out of the passenger side of the police vehicle with a gun drawn and reached for Ghaisar’s door handle.
Likely frightened by an extremely over-aggressive response, Ghaisar drove off at a normal speed. As he did so, the police officer who had leapt out of his car slammed his gun against Ghaisar’s rear driver side window. Both the Fairfax and Park Police vehicles then followed Ghaisar for about a minute and 35 seconds before Ghaisar made a right turn at a stop sign and then stopped his vehicle a second time.
Immediately, two Park Police officers approached the vehicle with guns drawn, and aimed at Ghaisar. Again, after seeing the guns drawn, Ghaisar drove off. In response, one of the Park Police officers kicked Ghaisar’s rear passenger side tire.
Ghaisar drove for about another minute, again…