Bodycam Footage Released Showing Alabama Cop Fatally Shooting Suicidal Man in 2018

A court official in Alabama on Friday ordered the public release of bodycam footage that shows a former Huntsville police officer fatally shooting a suicidal man in 2018.

Madison County Circuit Judge Donna Pate issued the order in response to letters submitted by media organizations requesting the release of the video that was used as evidence in the officer's trial, AL.com reported.

The footage shows the April 2018 incident when police officer William Ben Darby fatally shot Jeffery Parker. Earlier that day, Parker called the police and said that he wanted to take his own life.

Newsweek reached out to Parker's family lawyer, Martin Weinberg, for comment.

However, Weinberg wrote on Facebook that the Parker family "was very much in favor of this footage being made public."

The City of Huntsville objected to Pate's order to release the footage, arguing that body cam video is a non-public law enforcement record, and therefore its release doesn't comply with Alabama's Open Records Act, News 19 reported. In 2019, the City of Huntsville paid $125,000 into Darby's legal fees.

According to the footage, the police who arrived at the scene found Parker sitting on a couch at his house holding a gun to his own head. Genisha Pegues, one of the officers at the scene, and who also testified against Darby in trial, was talking to Parker in efforts to appease the situation before Darby came into the house.

Eleven seconds after entering the house, Darby shot Parker in the face, according to the footage. Darby testified that he shot Parker in defense of himself and the other officers, fearing that Parker would shoot them.

In the bodycam footage, Darby is heard shouting at Pegues to "point your f**king gun at him" and repeatedly telling Parker to drop his gun.

Darby was charged with murder and sentenced 25 years in jail for murdering Parker, WAAY TV reported last week.

In May, a Madison County jury found Darby guilty of killing Parker, reaching a verdict on the second day of deliberations in the trial.

Huntsville police said in May that they did not believe Darby to be a murderer.

"We are in the first stages of shock," Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray said in a statement. "While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer."

A city police review had cleared Darby of wrongdoing and officials allowed him to remain a cop after his conviction. Darby later resigned in July, according to AL.com.

Darby's attorney, Robert Tuten, the Huntsville Police Department and a relative of Jeffery Parker didn't immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comments.