GREENSBORO, N.C. — The attorney for Nasanto Crenshaw's family, the 17-year-old who was shot and killed by a Greensboro police officer last August, spoke to WFMY about the body camera footage released to the public Tuesday.
According to the Use of Force section policy for the Greensboro Police Department, "officers will not fire any weapon from or at a moving vehicle unless there's an immediate threat of death or serious injury to the officer or others."
The attorneys for the Crenshaw family argue that the officer was not in danger, therefore the shooting wasn't warranted.
A former sheriff's deputy thinks otherwise, saying the officer involved responded appropriately.
The Greensboro Police Department released 104 recordings of bodycam video from the night 17-year-old Nasanto Crenshaw was shot and killed by a Greensboro police officer.
The shooting happened in the 4900 block of West Market Street around 9 p.m. in a shopping plaza parking lot on August 21, 2022.
Police said four other passengers were in the car including a 15-year-old. Two passengers were arrested and the other two were never arrested.
Attorneys for the Crenshaw family watched the footage before it was released to the public.
"Any other citizen who would have made these acts would've been charged that night by the police. I guess it goes differently when the person has a badge on," said attorney, Harry Daniels.
They said the footage shows Crenshaw attempting to drive around the officer and that Corporal Sletten wasn't in any danger.
Former sheriff's deputy, Randy Powers also watched the tapes.
He said he thinks the officer did what he was supposed to do.
"Your job as a law-enforcement officer is to protect the public. If these people become a problem, they are going to cause other people to get hurt. The police officer has to do what's necessary to get the car to stop," Power explained.
The investigation was taken over by the SBI who presented their findings to the district attorney.
The DA decided that charges will not be filed against the officer.
"It's a third-party investigation. Everything checked off perfectly. I do not see anything that went wrong that should've been different," Powers said.
"The state of attorney general's office cannot take the authority away from the district attorney in North Carolina. That is very problematic because essentially the DA can decide who gets charged or not," Daniels shared.
Attorneys for Crenshaw's family have filed a lawsuit against GPD and Corporal Sletten.