Video of officer shooting toward girl ‘much worse ... than I imagined,’ attorney says

A 9-year-old girl wounded by bullet fragments was so directly in the line of fire when a Wichita police officer shot at her dog that the flashlight he shined from above his gun barrel illuminated her face right before he fired, her family’s attorney says.

“She thought the officer was shooting directly at her,” attorney Charley O’Hara said.

“That is an extremely dangerous situation” for the girl, he said.

“It was a much worse situation than I imagined,” O’Hara said Monday after being allowed to view the officer’s body camera video with the girl’s parents and aunt at the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

The shooting occurred in the small living room at the girl’s home on North Gentry on Dec. 30. Her three siblings, ages 6 to 10, were also in the room.

The video action takes place quickly, O’Hara said. It shows the officer walk through the small living room where the girl and three of her young siblings remained after officers responded to a 911 call that their father was threatening to harm himself.

Their father was outside and unarmed when the officer fired two shots in the house, their mother, Danielle Maples, said in an earlier interview with The Eagle.

The information that police have given about the shooting – including that the dog was charging at the officer – doesn’t describe how the girl was directly in the officer’s line of sight and line of fire when he shot so close to her, O’Hara said.

The video shows the family dog, Chevy, which O’Hara described as “a small dog,” coming up to the officer and barking. According to O’Hara, the dog is in between the officer and the girl when the officer fires.

It appears that the officer fires from 10 feet or less away from the girl, O’Hara said.

The District Attorney’s Office told the girl’s lawyer that the bullet struck the hard surface beneath the carpeted floor within a foot in front of where the girl was sitting. Bullet fragments struck above her eye.

According to the girl’s mother, it appears that her daughter’s wounds will leave with a scar.

And her parents also worry about possible psychological issues, O’Hara said.

Her three young siblings who witnessed the shooting also have been affected, he said.

“The mother said to me in my office today after seeing the video, ‘I’ve always taught my children to trust the police, and I don’t think any four of those children will ever trust the police again.’”

Authorities should release the video so the public can see the officer’s actions and “people can make up their own mind,” O’Hara said.

The family is still trying to get a copy of the video, he said Monday. According to O’Hara, City Attorney Jennifer Magana said the family was welcome to see the video but that the city wouldn’t provide a copy because the law doesn’t require it. Magana couldn’t be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

The city also declined to give a copy of the video to The Eagle, saying it is not required to release it and that doing so would violate the girl’s privacy.

“I don’t know why the video isn’t out” if the Police Department and the city want to be transparent, O’Hara said. “Let’s get it out there.”

If police have any concern that releasing the video could impinge on the girl’s privacy, the family would sign a waiver, he said.

“We don’t live in a secret country, I hope. Maybe we do,” he said. “Not releasing it – who’s that protecting? … Failure to produce the video is not being done to protect my clients.”

The Eagle reported Friday that the officer, Dexter Betts, was fired, according to a source in the department.

The District Attorney’s Office will decide whether the officer will face criminal charges.

The department said Betts had been an officer for a little over a year. Betts’ attorney, Jim Pratt, said again Monday that he couldn’t comment.

“I don’t think my clients are a vengeful type of people,” O’Hara said.

The family is concerned about how the officer’s judgment and actions reflect on police hiring and training, O’Hara said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Video of officer shooting toward girl ‘much worse ... than I imagined,’ attorney says."