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DALLAS - Prosecutors presented body camera video during the first day of the trial for a former Mesquite police officer accused of shooting an unarmed man.
Derick Wiley faces a charge of aggravated assault by a public servant for the shooting of Lyndo Jones, who survived the incident.
Last November, Derick Wiley was on duty working for the Mesquite Police Department when he responded to a call about a truck burglary. A caller reported seeing a man in a truck with the alarm going off. Wiley shot Jones twice during a scuffle, but it turned out the vehicle belonged to Jones and the charges against Jones were subsequently dropped.
The video played in court Tuesday showed Wiley confronting Jones, ordering him out of his truck.
WILEY: “Open the door! Put your hands up or I will ----ing shoot you! Get out the truck and get on the ground!”
JONES: “It’s wet.”
WILEY: “I don’t give a ----- about it being wet! Get on the ground! Put your hands on your head! Turn over! Turn over on your stomach! ----ng turn over!”
Prosecutors said Wiley acted unreasonably from the time he got the call by turning down backup and approaching Jones with his gun drawn as he yelled commands. Prosecutors said Jones complied until Wiley put his knee on a pressure point in his back, causing Jones to struggle and attempt to run away.
WILEY: “Put your hands on your back! Put your hands behind your back! Yes, you can!”
JONES: “What are you doing bro? What are you doing bro? What are you doing man?” [sounds of a struggle and gun fire heard]
WILEY: “451 shots fired! Shots fired!”
The lead Mesquite investigator testified about his concern that Wiley shot an unarmed man twice in the back without an explanation.
BRYAN MITCHELL, PROSECUTOR: “When you watch that video, was it clear to you the Derrick Wiley intended to shoot Lyndo Jones?“
DETECTIVE: “Yes.”
PROSECUTOR: “That was his intention?”
LEAD DETECTIVE: “Yes.”
Prosecutors also showed jurors the account Wiley gave to Mesquite investigators.
“When I grab my handcuffs he just flipped out and I’m thinking is he trying to get to his weapon,” Wiley said at the time.
He also told investigators he feared for his life and seemed to think Jones did have a gun.
“When he swung up with his fence facing me outside there could be a weapon and I thought he was going to kill me and I fired,” Wiley said.
But that account appears to differ from what he said on his body cam to the first officers arriving on the scene.
WILEY: “Yeah he still conscious.
OFFICERS: “Gun?”
WILEY: “No. I can’t see. I can’t really see though.”
On cross-examination by the defense, the lead mesquite investigator testified that it took three to four officers to hold Jones down -- suggesting he could have been on drugs at the time.
Jones is expected to take the stand on Wednesday.