Newly leaked videos of the officer-involved shooting death of Otis French, Jr. in Baldwin County were released Friday.
The two videos show dash camera footage and footage from a responding officer's body-worn camera. The dash camera video shows a wider shot of the traffic stop. The responding officer's body-worn camera caught the moments the officer involved attempted life-saving measures on French, his explanation of what happened and a phone call me made to a loved one telling her he was okay.
The release comes one day after an attorney for French's family demanded a full investigation into the initial leak of the body-worn camera from the officer involved.
SEE ALSO: Attorney demands full investigation into leaked body cam footage of Otis French, Jr. shooting
French, who suffered from mental illness, was pulled over by a Bay Minette police officer in 2022. He resisted a pat-down, assaulted the officer and ran from him before taking the officer's Taser.
State. Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) said one of his 2023 bills that was signed into law has already made improvements since the death of French. Elliott said he was inspired by the death to introduce a bill to ensure officers would know that someone had been involuntarily committed when conducting stops.
The law requires the judge of probate and circuit judges to report an order of involuntary commitment to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) to be entered into the Law Enforcement and Traffic Safety (LETS) database.
SEE ALSO: Graphic video shows officer-involved shooting of Otis French, Jr. in Bay Minette
"If you've been adjudicated, if you have been declared to have a mental illness or you've been institutionalized by the judge, that will show up in LETS, the law enforcement database now, "Elliott explained. "And it flags it in there, so the hope there is that the officer or the deputy then has all of the information that they might need in order to at least understand who's on the other side of the window."
Elliott said the alert helps officers use their judgment and training on mental illness to handle situations differently.
"You may, for instance, say, 'This guy is acting weird. I don't know why. Is it because he's on drugs? Is it because he's hiding a gun? Or is it because he's got mental issues?" Elliott said. "Well, how you answer that has implications on how you handle the underlying stop."
Although the Bay Minette officer who shot French was cleared of criminal wrongdoing, French's family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit.
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