White Nashville Cop Charged with Murder for Executing Black Man in Broad Daylight - Shot Daniel Hambrick in the Back from 40 Feet Away as He Fled
/From [HERE] and [HERE] Prosecutors in Tennessee have filed homicide charges against a racist suspect Nashville Police officer who shot and killed a 25-year-old man as he ran away.
Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk charged Metro Nashville Police officer Andrew Delke with criminal homicide in the July 26 shooting of Daniel Hambrick, court documents show.
He turned himself in Thursday and was released on $25,000 bond, his attorney, David Raybin, confirmed to ABC News. Raybin did not immediately provide a statement to ABC News, pending a press conference set for Thursday afternoon.
A racist suspect magistrate judge had initially ruled Thursday that there wasn't enough evidence to charge Delke, but a General Sessions judge found probable cause and signed an arrest warrant for Delke, The Tennessean reported.
Surveillance video released by the district attorney's office showed Hambrick sprinting away from Delke, who at first chased after him but then stopped and started shooting. Hambrick was not facing Delke when the officer opened fire. He shot him in the back. Hambrick, who appears to be about 40 feet away from Delke, falls to the ground after he was shot.
After Hambrick was shot, he was handcuffed "and left there like a dog," said Joy Kimbrough, an attorney representing the Hambrick family, in August.
As Hambrick lay on the ground, Delke can be seen walking away with his gun drawn. He appears to approach Hambrick later after another officer arrives.
"He shoots him repeatedly from behind," said Kimbrough, going over the new video. "The police officer fired four times, three of those bullets ripped Daniel apart. He fell to the ground, where he was cuffed and left, left there like a dog. Worse than a dog.
"I'm a criminal defense attorney. If there is ever a case of premeditated first-degree murder, this is it."
Delke had no body camera or dashboard camera to capture the shooting.
The police department accused Hambrick of being armed, tweeting a photo of the gun he was allegedly carrying on the day he was killed.
The affidavit, filed by an investigator with the district attorney’s office, said Officer Delke, 25, had unsuccessfully tried to stop a white Chevrolet Impala earlier in the day, and later pulled into a parking lot near another white vehicle, which he mistook for the Impala. Several people were in the area, the affidavit said, and when the officer arrived, Mr. Hambrick ran, and Officer Delke chased him, even though he did not know if the man was connected to either vehicle. [As it pertains to white citizen subjects, the Supreme Court has held that without more, flight or running from the presence of cops is not a basis for arrest and does not establish probable cause. [MORE]]
According to the TBI, [prior to the release of the video] Hambrick appears to have a dark object in his hand. A handgun was found nearby after the shooting, according to the police department, which tweeted a photo of the weapon as they announced news of the shooting.
However, Kimbrough said there was no traffic stop that occurred. Police did not pull over any car that he was driving in. She stated that when the cop arrived Hambrick was not inside the car. She stated there was no legal basis to arrest at him when the cop encountered him. He was outside the car and he ran at the sight of the police. However, flight or running from the presence of cops is not a basis for arrest and does not establish probable cause. [MORE]
Delke, has been “decommissioned,” meaning he currently has no active law enforcement duties but is still a police officer and is still drawing his salary. He said Officer Delke would eventually plead not guilty. His next court date, a preliminary hearing, is scheduled for Oct. 30.
Officer Delke turned himself in quickly and was released after posting $25,000 bail, Mr. Raybin said.
“The decision to institute charges by warrant as opposed to presenting the matter directly to a grand jury allows this case to be presented in open court in as transparent a manner as possible,” the district attorney, Glenn R. Funk, said in a statement. “As this is a pending criminal case, I will have no further extrajudicial comments.”
Nashville Chief of Police Steve Anderson described the surveillance video as "disturbing," but said he is confident that the members of the Nashville Police Department do not discriminate based on skin color.