Photo by Jon Anderson
Ben Crump 12-3-18
Ben Crump, an attorney for the family of the 21-year-old Hueytown man killed by a Hoover police officer at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night, Nov. 22, 2018, speaks during a press conference the family held on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.
The lead attorney for the family of the 21-year-old Hueytown man shot and killed by a Hoover police officer at the Riverchase Galleria on Thanksgiving night today confirmed that investigators shared a “brief portion of video” related to the incident with him and the family of the deceased on Nov. 30.
“When the family met with members from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) and the District Attorney’s Office last Friday, the agency and office attempted to build some degree of trust by allowing the family and their attorneys to see a very brief portion of video surrounding the moments E.J. Bradford Jr. was shot at the Riverchase Galleria mall,” attorney Ben Crump said in a written statement.
Since that time, Crump has continued to protest publicly that investigators have not released video footage from the incident, and people leading protests have used that as a rallying cry that authorities are trying to cover up something.
During a “Justice for E.J. Community Forum” at Muhammad Mosque No. 69 on Wednesday night, Crump led an estimated crowd of 200 or so people in a chant of “Don’t say no more. Release the video” three times.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has said repeatedly that until authorities release the video, it smells of a cover-up.
Today, Crump tried to explain himself, saying that attorneys have continued to request that “all video footage of the mall from that night” be publicly released, including police body camera footage and mall surveillance videos.
ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor has said that prematurely releasing the video and other evidence in the shootings could compromise the integrity of the investigation being conducted by his agency. ALEA will not release anything publicly but will turn over all evidence, including videos, to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office once its investigation is complete.
Crump said he has not said anything publicly about seeing the “brief portion of the video” because the only way ALEA would agree to show that footage was if attorneys for the family agreed to keep it confidential, so as not to interfere with ALEA’s investigation.
“While we are respecting the essence of the agreement to keep the content of the limited video that was viewed confidential, we can confirm that what was viewed is consistent with the findings of the anatomical review released on Dec. 3 and conducted by an independent forensic pathologist who was hired by the family,” Crump said.
“It should be noted that Bradford did have a gun; the family has been told previously that Bradford’s gun was never fired,” Crump said.
The report from the forensic pathologist hired by Bradford’s family said forensic evidence indicates that Bradford was shot three times from behind.
When Bradford was shot, officers were responding to another shooting that occurred just seconds before, police have said.
The headline on this story wad modified at 2:57 p.m. to indicate the the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency showed a portion of video to the family and attorneys. A previous headline said the video segment was released.
