Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Two of three officers cleared in fatal shooting of mentally ill NC teenager

     911 calls reveal that a North Carolina officer shot a mentally ill teenager barely a minute after having arrived at the scene. Craig Reck of NBC station WECT of Wilmington, N.C., reports                                                             M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Two of the three North Carolina officers present when police shot and killed a mentally ill teenager have been cleared, authorities said Tuesday.
Keith Vidal, 18, of Boiling Spring Lakes, was shot and killed Sunday afternoon. Vidal's parents accused an officer of stunning their son with a Taser and then shooting him in cold blood as he lay restrained on the ground.
Jerry Dove, chief of the Southport police, one of the three responding agencies, confirmed that Det. Byron Vassey, a nine-year veteran of the department, had been placed on administrative leave.
           
        "Then all of a sudden, this Southport cop came, walked in the house [and said]: 'I don't have time for this. Tase him. Let's get him out of here,'" Wilsey said.
After the officer used a stun gun on Vidal, "he hit the ground [and] this guy shot him," Wilsey said.
Brunswick County District Attorney Jon David said the State Bureau of Investigation was investigating, as is standard in all officer-involved shootings.
David promised "that I will go wherever the truth leads in this case."

UPDATE + VIDEO

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