Video shows struggle, then shooting that paralyzed Iowa man

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — An unarmed black driver struggled with an Iowa officer and a police dog before the officer shot the motorist as he tried to get away in his pickup truck, paralyzing him, dashcam video released Thursday shows.

Driver Jerime Mitchell managed to get back inside the vehicle with Officer Lucas Jones clinging to his body by the open driver’s side door. The video shows Jones shooting Mitchell at close range after the truck starts to roll.

The video seems unlikely to resolve a debate over whether the Cedar Rapids policeman acted appropriately during the Nov. 1 shooting of Mitchell, 37. A Linn County grand jury decided Monday not to indict Jones. County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said the video shows that Mitchell resisted Jones and the officer fired in self-defense.

Mitchell disputes that account, arguing that the officer was the aggressor. His supporters have blasted the prosecutor for ending the secret grand jury inquiry without obtaining any statement or testimony from Mitchell, who is hospitalized with a bullet lodged in his neck and unable to move most his body.

“I was unarmed. I never struck the officer, or the dog. This has changed my life forever,” Mitchell said in a statement released Wednesday. “No one should ever be treated the way I was that night.”

Vander Sanden said Jones feared the truck would run him over. He said Mitchell could have avoided being shot had he complied with the officer.

Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska chapter of the NAACP, said the video showed “high-level inconsistencies” with the prosecutor’s account. She said Mitchell’s license plate lights appear to be working and that Mitchell initially cooperated by handing the officer his identification and getting out.

“Why was Jerime stopped and why was he pursued so aggressively?” Andrews said. “We have grave concerns when this video and what was presented to us by the county attorney are like night and day.”