The full body camera video of the Linden Cameron shooting was released today and can be viewed below. There can be no other interpretation of this footage than to say that a yet to be named Salt Lake City Police officer fired 11 shots at an unarmed 13 year old autistic boy just because he didn't get on the ground. Another angle can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKUnbgcDGQo where you can see that Linden made no threatening moves whatsoever towards this cop. Watch the footage and judge for yourself.
As we previously covered (https://copblaster.com/blast/25958/whos-the-salt-lake-city-officer-that-shot-13-year-old-linden-cameron) Linden's mother had called 911 seeking help for her autistic son during a mental health crisis. She told officers that he was unarmed, and as you can see from the hospital pictures, he looks younger than he really is. Linden can be heard in the body cam footage saying "I don't feel good, I don't feel good" as he lay on the ground in agony. He suffered juries to shoulder, intestines, bladder, and both ankles. The ankle injuries most likely were suffered after Linden was already on the ground. The officer fired for several seconds and the first hit most likely dropped the poor boy. The officer also appears to be a horrible shot since the areas injured is far less than the number of shots fired, so that could explain one ankle but probably not both.
We can think of no justifiable reason to empty an entire clip into anyone, let alone a 13 year old autistic child, just because they refuse to get on the ground. The officer is on paid administrative leave and has not been fired. We can think of no justifiable reason why this officer has not been fired and charged with attempted murder.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown gave a statement today (https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1409984389206699) in which he said "as a father of three young sons this has had a big impact on me personally." He then went on to talk about America's mental health crisis, emphasized the importance of learning from this, and growing as an organization, but he was silent as to the status of the officer that shot Linden. He has not named him or announced any disciplinary actions against him at all. That is why we posted Chief Brown's personal contact information shortly after the shooting because he is treating this like all law enforcement agencies treat cases they plan to justify later (https://copblaster.com/blast/25962/salt-lake-city-police-chief-mike-brown-hides-behind-shroud-of-secrecy). The handling of this case is eerily similar to the way authorities in Missouri have handled the murder of Hannah Fizer (https://copblaster.com/hashtag/hannah-fizer/). In that case a woman was gunned down on her way to work, the deputy was put on paid leave, the local sheriff called it a tragedy, the investigation was completed, and a special prosecutor refused to prosecute saying that a reasonable officer would have feared for his safety. Lack of action at this stage after this among of time is almost always a bad sign in cases like this one.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said that as the mother of a 14 year old boy she is "profoundly heartbroken" but limited in what she can say at this time because of the pending investigation. She promised that body cam footage will be made available on YouTube within 10 business days whenever this type of forced is used from now on. She promised reforms to keep the people of Salt Lake City safe from their police officers, we will believe that when we see it.
UPDATE: The source link for this article has been changed to a news story containing additional footage. In that footage Linden's mother can be seen telling police officers that her son is autistic, unarmed, and just needs help.
UPDATE: Some of the new footage seen today shows Linden's mother, Golda Barton, tell police that her son had been making violent threats, that he had access to a bb or prop gun, but not a real gun. That still does not justify this shooting. If it did then anyone could get someone killed by telling the cops they might be armed. It puts a target on the back of anyone that has a beef with anyone that knows they are likely to run or just not cooperate with police.