Lawyers for a Georgia man who was paralyzed in a police shooting released video of the 2018 encounter Friday, nearly two weeks after two of the former officers were indicted on charges of aggravated assault and other alleged crimes.
In dashcam video, an East Point police cruiser can be seen hitting a car driven by Devin Nolley on an Atlanta interstate on the morning of December 28. Authorities believed the black Nissan Nolley was driving was stolen.
Moments later, after Nolley jumped from the car and ran toward the side of the highway, officers can be seen immediately firing at him repeatedly.
Nolley, who was unarmed, was struck four times — twice in the legs and twice in the back — and left paraplegic, his lawyers said.
“The videos are simply shocking, and shows the depravity and recklessness of these officers,” one of his lawyers, James Bryant, said in an email Friday. “When they fired these 20 sum odd shots at an unarmed man, each of those bullets were meant to kill. Their actions were grossly unconstitutional.”
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which probed the shooting, the incident began after officers saw what they identified as a stolen black Nissan at a gas station.
When uniformed officers approached the car after following it to a nearby shopping center, the driver reversed into an unmarked police car before fleeing toward Interstate 285. The officers fired at the Nissan, then pursued it onto the highway, the agency said.
One of the officers used a "PIT maneuver," or a pursuit tactic that can abruptly turn a car 180 degrees, to force Nolley to stop, NBC affiliate WXIA of Atlanta reported.
After Nolley leapt from his car and was shot, he can be seen in the dashcam video lying motionless in a wooded area as officers handcuff him.
In 2019, Nolley filed a lawsuit that named as defendants two officers — Rodney Etienne and Shiron Nicole Varner. The lawsuit claimed excessive force and sought $30 million.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted the officers April 4 on two counts of violating their oaths and one count each of reckless conduct, aggravated battery and aggravated assault.
Etienne and Varner are no longer employed by the department, according to The Associated Press.
Neither of the former officers responded Friday to messages left on phone numbers listed under their names. An East Point police spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the local police union.
A lawyer for Etienne, Don Samuel, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But he told WXIA that Nolley was a "fleeing felon. He posed a danger to the community."
Samuel claimed that Nolley committed aggravated assault in the shopping center, saying that he "gunned the engine" of the Nissan and tried to run Etienne over, WXIA reported.
"Georgia law specifically says that officers are allowed to apprehend fleeing felons, and if the felony was an aggravated assault or a dangerous felony, they have an obligation to apprehend the fleeing felon and use the force that’s necessary to do so,” Samuel said, according to the station.
It wasn't immediately clear if Nolley was charged with any crime in connection with the incident or if the Nissan had actually been stolen. His lawyer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.