Activists want body cam footage of Fargo police shooting released
Family members and activists are demanding the release of body camera video related to the fatal police shooting of Shane Netterville last week in Fargo.
His family said Netterville was a Fargo resident.
A group of about 50 people gathered Monday evening outside Fargo City Hall.
Gary Netterville said the family has been given very little information about his younger brother’s death.
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"It was just a shame what happened to him, you know we have heard only what was on the news and what was vaguely told to us, we are getting little pieces of different stories so you don't know what actually happened,” he said.
Fargo officer Adam O’Brien, an 11-year veteran of the department, shot Shane Netterville Friday morning after police responded to a report of people slumped over in a van.
In court documents involving charges against a passenger in the van, police said when they arrived and tried to make contact with the occupants, the vehicle began to flee directly toward officers and O’Brien fired.
Shane Netterville was driving the van, which police said had been reported stolen.
The Fargo Police Department policy manual indicates officers should attempt to move out of the path of a fleeing vehicle if possible. “An officer should only discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or its occupants when the officer reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the imminent threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others,” the manual states.
The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting. O’Brien is currently on leave.
Gary Netterville said officials told him this week that the investigation could take a month or longer.
Police earlier indicated the officer's body camera footage of the shooting could be released before the investigation is complete.