A Nashville policeman accused of criminal homicide after shooting a black man in the back

The Tennessee police officer, who was videotaped after shooting a man in the back while he escaped, was charged with criminal homicide on Thursday.

Andrew R. Delke, 25, a Metropolitan Police Officer in Nashville, went to his home after a judge issued an arrest warrant for the murder of Daniel Hambrick in July. Delke was released on bail of $ 25,000 pending the October 30 hearing, and the department has disabled his police authority, the equivalent of a total suspension of his duties.

Under Tennessee law, "criminal homicide" is a general crime that can encompass varying degrees of homicide, from homicide to first-degree murder vehicle.

A security video from a nearby school recorded Hammer's pursuit of Hammer north of Nashville on July 26. In the video, Delke, who is white, stops and takes a shooting position. on the ground. Delke then goes to Hambrick with his weapon still fired.

A warrant for arrest indicates that investigators believe that Delke was looking for a reason to stop the traffic and that his confrontation with Hambrick occurred after he misidentified a car, as he found it. had followed earlier.

According to the mandate, Delke was working with a task force looking for stolen vehicles and juvenile offenders when a white Chevrolet Impala conceded the right of way to its service vehicle at a stop sign. Delke judged it suspicious, says the warrant, without explaining why.

When he passed the license plate of the car, Delke discovered that the car had not been stolen, according to the warrant. But he continued to follow him "to see if he could develop a reason for stopping the Impala," according to the warrant.

When Impala finally took the highway, Delke lit his blue lights, but the car did not stop, according to the warrant.

Rather than launching into a full pursuit, Delke turned off her blue lights and continued to follow the Impala from a distance, finally losing her trace, the warrant said. He has never seen the driver of the car, according to the warrant.

Later, Delke spotted a four-door white sedan in the parking lot of a building and stopped to investigate.

The police initially stated that it was the same car that Delke had followed earlier, but according to the warrant, it was not – Delke misidentified it. However, a man on the scene started running when Delke stopped and Delke started chasing him because he thought the man "may have been connected to the white car that Officer Delke at

This man was later identified as Hambrick.

The warrant states that Delke saw a gun in the man's hand and ordered him to drop it as they ran along the sidewalk.

The Nashville Police Fraternal Order stated that Hambrick was armed with a 9mm gun.

"When Mr. Hambrick continued to run away and did not drop his gun, Officer Delke decided to use lethal force," he said. Hambrick was hit twice in the back and once in the back of the head, according to the warrant; the fourth bullet hit a nearby building.

In July, NBC affiliate WSMV said Delke was not wearing a camera and there was no camera in his car. The warrant does not mention any type of camera.

Hambrick's family claimed last month that the shooting was the result of racial prejudice and demanded Delke's dismissal.

"I just want justice done to my son," said Hambrick's mother, Vickie Hambrick. "That's all I ask for, and for all the young blacks and young women, I want justice for them."

Glenn Funk, Nashville District Attorney, said in a statement that he was seeking an open tenure at the Nashville court rather than a grand jury investigation because he wanted to be as transparent as possible, noting that "the grand jury are secret He said that he would have no other comment.

Metro Nashville police chief Steve Anderson called the shooting a "tragedy" on Thursday, but added, "It's not appropriate for me to discuss the events of July 26th."

Nashville Mayor David Briley issued a statement in which he said: "In August, I spoke to Daniel Hambrick's mother to express his condolences, and assured him that we would respect his life. At the same time, Ms. Hambrick asked for justice for Daniel, and the District Attorney's decision to lay charges in this case is a necessary step to that end. "