NASHVILLE — The Nashville District Attorney's office released video Wednesday in the case of a man who was shot and killed by an officer with the Metro Nashville Police Department.
On July 26, Daniel Hambrick, 25, was shot and killed by Metro Police Officer Andrew Delke. According to police, Hambrick led officers on a chase.
Once Hambrick pulled over on the corner of Jo Johnston Avenue and 17th Avenue North, police said he got out of the car with a gun. That's when the 25-year-old Delke shot him. Hambrick died at the scene.
According to video taken from a nearby high school that was released Wednesday by authorities, Hambrick was running away when he was shot.
During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Mayor David Briley spoke of the release of two videos involved.
"It was important for General Funk to release this video for transparency in this investigation," Nashville Mayor David Briley said. "This was a tragic event, and my prayers are with Mr. Hambrick's mother and the rest of the family. I don't know if there can be anything worse than losing your child."
Briley added he also met with Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson and community leaders in order to discuss a review of the police department's policing strategies.
"No mother should ever have to bury her 25-year-old child and our police should only be required to make a snap decision to discharge their weapons when absolutely necessary," Briley said.
Briley and Anderson both said that before Hambrick's death they had been working with the Policing Project based at the New York University School of Law. The national organization has dedicated itself to strengthening the relationship between police and the communities they serve.
"The Mayor has asked that the Metro Nashville Police Department undergo a comprehensive review of its policing strategies, and I have committed to that process with an open mind. We started that process some months ago working with NYU and its Policing Project, which has been beneficial for both entities," Anderson said.
The mayor said the Policing Project has three basic principles:
- Robust engagement between police departments and the communities they serve around the policies and priorities of policing.
- When possible, policing practices should be guided by rules and policies that are adopted in advance of action, are transparent, and are formulated with input from the public.
- Police departments should develop and use sound metrics of success that encompass all of the goals of policing, including community trust.
Briley said he's for community oversight of the police department, but not with recent proposals.
Last week, Community Oversight Now dropped off a petition with more than 8,000 signatures calling for a community oversight board. If the signatures are valid, voters will have a chance to weigh in on the issue during elections on Nov. 6.
Not only do loved ones believe Hambrick's death was unjustified, they added the black-on-black violence must also come to an end.
"Killed by ones whose job it was to serve and protect, but even more, it is her desire that the inter-community (sic) killing will cease, that no parent should lose a child to neighbor-on-neighbor violence," one speaker said.
Hambrick was his mother's only child. On Saturday, he was laid to rest.