Police ID Officer Who Fatally Shot Man On Dirt Bike
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Philadelphia Police Department has identified the officer who fatally shot a man on his dirt bike last week.
The incident happened last Thursday around 6:40 p.m. in the 4200 block of Whitaker Avenue.
Police say Officer Ryan Pownall, a 12-year veteran of the force, was driving down Whitaker Avenue while transporting witnesses to the Special Victims Unit on June 8.
According to police, Pownall says he was alarmed when he noticed a man, who's been identified as 30-year-old David Jones, driving a dirt bike erratically. The dirt bike stalled and Pownall decided to pull up next to it.
Police say Pownall got out and began to frisk Jones on the bike when he felt a gun inside of his waistband and jumped back.
Pownall drew his weapon and says Jones pulled away from him and grabbed for the gun.
New details released on Monday have revealed that Pownall squeezed the trigger of his service weapon, and it did not fire. The officer then cleared a stoppage, and fired at Jones as he ran south on Whitaker Avenue.
Father Speaks Out After Son Riding Dirt Bike Is Killed By Police
Surveillance video nearby captures Jones running away from the officer when he was fatally wounded. The man had already dropped the loaded 9 millimeter gun.
Police say Jones was struck in the back and buttocks. He was transported to Temple University Hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 6:59 p.m.
"I love him and I'm just sad that this happened," said David's father, Thomas Jones.
This father, lost in grief and disappointment, is not one ready to point any blame over his son's police-involved shooting death.
"I'm not really mad, but just in shock you know. He was just here eating with us the other night," Jones said. "He tells me everything but he never said he had a gun or anything."
Jones explains that like him, his son worked as a truck driver, willing to do long hauls that brought him back to the area every few weeks. On this trip home, he told his family he was ready to sell his dirt bike.
"We said that was a good thing because you know those dirt bikes [are] nothing but trouble," said Jones.
"We are outraged that a young black man was shot in the back by a police officer. We want to support the family of that person and call for the accountability of this police officer," said Abdul-aliy Muhammad of the Black and Brown Workers Collective.
Police Commissioner Richard Ross says part of the shooting alarms him.
"We just want to make sure that given what we can see on video, from the vantage point that it fits departmental protocol," said Ross. "I'm not concerned at this time of the DA charges or anything like that. My concern is the fact that it doesn't meet departmental protocol."
Ross says officers are authorized to use deadly force, even if the person is running away, when they believe the subject poses an immediate deadly threat.
Pownall has been put on administrative leave.