Kitty Underhill

Black Teen Fatally Shot By Austin Police Was Naked And Unarmed

A black teenager who was naked and acting erratically in an Austin, Texas, neighborhood Monday was unarmed when he was fatally shot by police, the Austin Police Department says.

Police say that on Monday morning they received multiple calls from residents of the neighborhood in the northeast of the city reporting the teen, now identified as 17-year-old David Joseph, was “acting erratically” and “chasing” another male in a nearby apartment complex.

The 911 dispatcher told The officer the teen had no weapons that were reported and that he was unarmed before the officer arrived at the scene at about 10 a.m.  Freeman told police that Joseph did not listen to his commands before shooting.

“Mr. Joseph ultimately charged at the officer and that’s when shots were fired,” Manley said, noting Freeman fired just seconds after the confrontation began.

Police are reporting that although the dashboard camera recorded audio, it didn’t record video of the incident because most of the incident just happened to occur “outside of the frame.” The audio recording has not yet been made public.

Manley wouldn’t say if a stun gun was deployed by the officer during the incident, but seeing as the teen was obviously unarmed, There were other non-lethal forms of restraint that could have been used.

The teen died Monday at Round Rock Medical Center.

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