A Cottonwood police video released Friday appears to show a Cottonwood police officer shooting a man who is lying on the ground in a Walmart parking lot, who had been fighting with a downed officer.
Cottonwood Police Chief Jody Fanning said that Enoch Gaver, 21, had disarmed Sgt. Jeremy Daniels and had shot him in the leg. He said Gaver was still armed with Daniels' gun when Officer Rick Hicks started hitting him with a baton.
After Hicks determined the baton had no effect, he resorted to shooting Gaver to death, Fanning said.
Hicks also shot and wounded David Gaver, who also had been on top of Daniels and had charged towards Hicks, Fanning said.
Hicks initially was placed on leave after the March 21 shooting, but he went back on patrol Friday night.
PREVIOUSLY: Idaho family behind fatal melee at Cottonwood Walmart
PREVIOUSLY: Cottonwood Walmart brawl leaves 1 dead, officer shot
"The preliminary investigation has given me enough evidence to place him back on duty,'' Fanning said, adding that he believes Hicks' actions were justified.
"The officers did a very good job of restraining themselves,'' Fanning said. He said they only resorted to deadly force when the Gavers left them with no other choice.
The incident began when a female Walmart employee tried to use a women's restroom and was prevented from doing so when she was pushed out of the way.
1 dead, officer shot in Walmart brawl
Nathan Gaver told police that his mother, Ruth, was using the restroom, and that he and his brother Jeremiah were guarding it.
Police are seen in another video snippet arriving at the scene, where a large group of people are standing near a Chevrolet Suburban. The brawl ensues almost immediately after the third and fourth officers arrive.
Fanning said he still does not understand why the Gavers chose to fight his officers, rather than simply speaking to them. He said the likely outcome of the call would have been a misdemeanor citation with no one going to jail if the Gavers had not escalated the incident.
"I have no reason why they decided to fight us,'' Fanning said.
The officers and the Gavers are seen punching each other on the video. At some point, an officer attempts to use a stun gun to bring the Gavers under control, but that appears to have little effect.
After Daniels is seen on the ground, struggling with one of the Gavers, Hicks is seen using the asp to strike the man. Later, Hicks pulls out his gun. The video captures the flash from the gun's muzzle.
But even the fatal shooting doesn't end the brawl. Additional officers arrive on the scene and fight with other members of the Gaver family to bring them under control.
Five Gavers were arrested by police and booked into the Yavapai County Jail on a variety of charges, including aggravated assault on a police officer, hindering prosecution and resisting arrest.
The family was well-known in Boise, where at least three members played in a Christian band outside an Albertson's supermarket, where they would post a sign with a Biblical verse. The band was known as Matthew 24 Now, an apparent reference to the Second Coming.
Why were the cops there? Also seems like this cop just strolled up and went all hard ass from the start
Originally Posted by chinamaniac
I may be getting a bit old, so could someone please point out which one is Darry, and which one is Soda Pop?
Looks like the hire shit cops. Being a police officer entails being cable of handling physical situations. If you can't handle yourself, then you shouldn't be a cop. It shouldn't be mine or anybody elses fault that a guy picked a job where he is going to be getting into physical confrontations, but isn't capable of doing so instead he needs to shoot somebody. THAT IS NOT OK.
IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE YOURSELF IN A PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE A COP. JUST BECAUSE THEY HIRED A PUSSY DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULD DIE WHEN KICKING HIS ASS AS HE TRIES TO ASSAULT ME.
you cannot handle yourself on a forum. You mash the keyboard and sound like a hysterical 15 year old boy. If you can't handle yourself on a forum, then you shouldn't be reading/posting on a forum. I'm not sure out of what woodwork you emerged, but go slither back there, this place has enough brain-dead keyboard mashers.
Thanks for questioning my keyboard etiquette. Now go back to wherever you came from until you have something meaningful to say. I'm glad you were capable of not using CAPS while giving such an insightful response. IDIOT.
So what did your non-keyboard mashing do? Did your keyboard etiquette somehow convey something that I missed or add to the conversation?
You got so mad responding earlier you literally just mashed some nonsense on your keyboard.
deep breaths....deep breaths....
we all get it, you're a moron - no need to post 40 times tonight champ
Again...
Jesus the whole family is on bath salts. Damn near all of them take baton shots and are immune to them. Even the guy that got shot sloway falls back.
Still though this is the best part.
in other incidents people have asked why so many cops on the scene?
here 4 armed cops were not enough as the group the cops were up against had them outnumbered...and it only took one in that group to set off the rest
more cops on scene, less likely the group gets ideas
also, this takes place in Arizona, which has probably the fewest guns ownership/carry restrictions of any state in the US...interesting the cops did not draw and shoot sooner...the family was recently arrived from Idaho, probably didn't know the local carry laws
Last edited by GrenadaRoger; 04-11-2015 at 04:29 AM.
(long before there was a PFA i had my Grenade & Crossbones avatar at DD)
Youre a fucking idiot. They can't just hire MMA fighters. The officer got shot, and his partner shot the dude who was probably going to shoot him again.
You can be the toughest person in the world, but fighting ten rednecks ain't easy.
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You know the moment you scroll through a thread and instantly regret it. That just happened.
Are you fucking serious?
Did you actually even WATCH the video?
Apparently you missed the part where these inbred mongoloids were obviously on some serious shit, since they brushed off any type of physical altercations to take them down.
You obviously missed the parts where they were tazed and it had zero effect on them. But yeah, according to your thought process, police officers are all of the sudden supposed to be stronger than a million volt tazer.
Oh and you apparently missed the part where the guy grabbed the gun from the officers holster and while doing so, shot him.
Good God
Shut it down hoser!!!
C'mon man, corrigan vs hoser is like.. fucking epic. Let 'em go.Shut it down hoser!!!
They shouldn't have been swinging their batons one handed. I'm sure it hurts like hell to get hit like that but if the object is to incapacitate a threat they should have swung two handed and broken arms or legs on the first swing.
Cops could have dealt with this another way. Tough guy cop jumped out of the car and gave orders like he was a marine instructor in boot camp and immediately grabbed someone and said he was cuffing people.
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