Honolulu police officers swore they were “not trying to trick” a man as they urged him to step out from a narrow space between a utility box and a wall earlier this month.
But their bodycam videos shows the Hawaii cops did just that, resulting in them shooting the man to death.
The man has been identified as Tison Dinney, 39, who police say they had to kill because he attempted to pick up a pair of garden shears from the ground after a group of cops rushed him from behind while another cop was vowing they were not trying to trick him.
But the video shows he was startled by the cops rushing him, so he was probably trying to defend himself.
The video also shows that police could probably have avoided killing him if they just had a little more patience because he had nothing in his hands during the negotiations.
The Honolulu Police Department released two bodycam videos on Friday, showing the last minutes of the interaction between the cops and Dinney. Police say they had been talking to him for eight minutes before they killed him.
The shooting took place on October 7 at around 8:30 a.m. outside the Department of Health building after state sheriff’s deputies called the police department about a man who had allegedly threatened another man with a machete.
Deputies said they had been talking to him for at least 20 minutes prior to that.
The above video includes footage from one bodycam, showing Dinney talking to multiple officers for almost three minutes before footage from another bodycam shows three cops rushing him from behind and killing him.
The Honolulu Civil Beat claims that both videos were edited by police before being released to the media
But they still show one cop firing five times while another cop fires his taser, according to Officer.com.
Police Chief Susan Ballard said other officers at the scene were wearing bodycams but they have not reviewed them, which is why they have not released them.
This incident has marked the 11th officer-involved shooting in 2018 in Hawaii.
Police say Dinney attempted to injure an officer by picking up the shears next to the machete and swinging it at them but neither video shows that.
According to Officer.com:
> “Police initially reported deputy sheriffs responded to an argument between Dinney and another man, found him with a machete and shears, and used pepper spray on him to give up the weapons.”
Ballard stated in the news conference that she does not know why there has been an increase in police shooting deaths. The department is planning on going under Crisis Intervention Team training this coming January.
The medical examiner says Dinney died from a gunshot wound to the torso, according to HawaiiNewsNow.
The officer that fired the gun is still on the force and not suspended.
Carlos Miller contributed to this report.
