For the first time, the public is seeing video of the deadly confrontation between Dallas police and a man with mental illness, after it was released Monday by an attorney for the man's family.
Officers shot 39-year-old Jason Harrison on June 14, 2014, after responding to a call that Harrison was off his medication.
The family says the video recorded on an officer's body camera raises questions about the use of deadly force.
The video shows an officer knocking on the front door of a home in the 200 block of Glencairn Drive.
Harrison's mother opens the door and calmly walks outside, inaudibly telling officers something then saying her son was schizophrenic and bipolar.
Harrison then appears in the doorway holding a screwdriver in his hand. Officers John Rodgers and Andrew Hutchins instruct Harrison to drop the screwdriver, but they then open fire, shooting Harrison five times, said family attorney Geoff Henley.
“It was the most heartbreaking experience in my life,” said his mother, Shirley Harrison. “To stand there helpless, he's helpless. I couldn't help him. To be gunned down right before my eye.”
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Shirley Harrison spoke exclusively to NBC 5 and said she called 911 that day after her son stopped taking his medication.
According to the officers, Jason Harrison made an aggressive or threatening move, reportedly lunging toward an officer prior to the shooting.
“We maintain the footage shows him not stabbing, not thrusting, not lunging in a way that would jeopardize the lives of these officer,” Henley said. “He never leaves the front porch and he’s gunned down.”
But, attorney Chris Livingston, who represents the officers involved, says once the video is slowed it shows Jason Harrison move toward officers and his arm rotate down into a stabbing motion as the first shots are fired.
Jason Harrison's family says he was not a violent person. His mother said she'll never forget what happened that day.
“Every day I visualize the blood,” Shirley Harrison said. “All I visualize is the blood on his shirt. So it was very traumatic.”
The man’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the case.
“We feel it’s vital to this case and we feel it’s vital to the public because this is not the way we want mental health cases contended with in our communities either here in Dallas County or elsewhere,” Henley said. “It’s absolutely horrific to be diagnosing schizophrenia with 9mm guns.”
Dallas police have completed their investigation into the shooting, and the case has been handed over to the district attorney’s office for referral to a grand jury.
The two officers involved are back on duty.
NBC 5's Johnny Archer contributed to this report.
