Family Attorney Claims Video Proves Unjustified Killing

(Memphis) “Reckless and unjustified” are some of the words used to describe a police involved shooting that took the life a 24-year-old man.

The attorney representing the family of Steven Askew is calling for an independent and unbiased investigation into the incident that ended with two police officers shooting Askew dead. 

“Our investigation uncovered a video recording of the alarming tactics employed by the officers on the scene,” said Attorney Howard Manis.

Manis says a witness captured video on a cell phone of part of the police shooting Thursday night.

Apparently, the family attorney has a copy of this video, as does the Mayor’s office and the Memphis Police Department.

We were told News Channel 3 cannot have a copy because the case is still under investigation.

Police say Askew was slumped over in his car at the Windsor Place apartments when two officers approached the car to check on him.

They say Askew pointed a gun at them and when police opened fire.

Manis says the video captures more than that, “Based upon the video, it appears that three additional shots were fired after a significant amount of time had lapsed from the initial onslaught.”

He says 17 seconds pass in the video, before police fire those three additional shots.

Askew’s family believes it proves the officers’ actions were criminal.

“He had no criminal record and his reasons for being at the scene were both lawfully and easily explained,” said Manis.

Askew’s mother broke down at the end of her attorney’s statements.

She’s grieving a son who graduated from Wooddale High School and wanted to be an airplane mechanic.

Instead, she says he was killed by police after falling asleep in his car, waiting for his girlfriend to come home.

“Had police only asked,” said Manis.  “He was there to see his girlfriend. That’s all.”

The attorney doesn’t dispute that Askew had a gun and a carry permit.

As for the video, we went to the Windsor Place Apartments to see if we could find who shot the video.

We spoke with about dozen people who captured the aftermath on their cell phones, but not the actual gun shots.

All agree that they heard plenty of gunfire that night, but none of them recalled hearing that 17 second pause the attorney mentioned.