When is it NOT okay for cops to shoot someone?

Well, according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, it’s not cool to shoot someone a second or so after you have asked them to comply with an order. That’s what an officer in Tustin in Southern California is finding out now. 

Officer Osvaldo Villarreal claims an unarmed suspect named Benny Herrera had a weapon before Villarreal shot and killed Herrera. Villarreal also claims that Herrera “charged” him — or, at least, that Herrera “closed the distance . . . very quickly” — after the officer ordered the suspect to remove his hand from his pocket.

Video of the incident disagrees. That video, according to a federal appeals court, “shows that the command and the shots were almost simultaneous, separated by less than a second.”

Villareal was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting last year by the Orange County District Attorney’s office:

“ … which said in 2013 that the shooting was reasonable and justified because Villarreal fired after Herrera ignored orders to show his hands.

A video captured by a police dashboard camera shows otherwise, according to the 9th Circuit judges who cited the footage.

[...]

The video has not been made public and is under a court seal.

The seven-page review of the case by the Orange County District Attorney's Office does not mention the existence of a video and appears to rely heavily on Villarreal's own statements.