An attorney for Williams’ family who saw the raw video said he believed the girl was pointing the toy weapon.
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Following the release of the footage, Lee Merritt, the Williams family’s attorney, questioned why the officers handcuffed the girl and left her handcuffed in a critical moment.
“She was clearly not a threat. She was clearly begging for help. She was responsive,” he said. “There was some unnecessary and undue delay” he said.
A police spokesman for the Fullerton police department said it was “standard practice” to handcuff someone in this type of scenario. “An officer has no idea how badly injured someone is, if they possess another weapon,” Jon Radus wrote in an email, adding, “The possible bad scenarios are endless.”
Police release body-cam footage of California girl’s shooting death
I don't think it's clear at all that she wasn't a threat. If she's begging for help she could easily still grab a gun. Sure it would have been great if he'd just somehow known she wouldn't be a threat and left her hands free, but he had no way of knowing that.
If he'd handcuffed her in the front she could have laid on her back, to make breathing easier, maybe? However, that may have made it harder for them to treat her wounds. Not sure where her chest wound was but hand cuffed in the front would have made accessing the thigh wound difficult. I think they'd have been more delayed that way. Having her hands free may have delayed them too, because she may have grabbed at her own wounds and made things worse.
I think this officer did the best thing in this scenario. Seriously, I'm usually jumping on the cops in these situations. I think he did the best he could here. Do I wish he'd waited to fire? Absolutely. Can I reasonably ASK him to wait? No, I can't. I think this was a suicide by cop, which I wish was not a thing but unfortunately it is.