COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The family of a 17-year-old who was shot and killed by a Cobb County officer is now calling for the resignation of the department's police chief, Tim Cox, after viewing body cam and dash cam video of the July 13 incident.
According to lawyers for the family, Gerald A. Griggs and Maria Banjo, those videos showed that Truitt did not "brandish a gun or point a gun in the direction of the officer," as was described in official accounts.
"Immediately following the traffic stop, Truitt exits the vehicle after the driver. Without facing the officer, he begins running in the opposite direction of the officer when Truitt is shot twice in the back," the lawyers said in a statement.
An autopsy report revealed in October that Truitt's death was ruled a homicide. The family had been demanding to see the videos, and said they finally reviewed them with Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes.
"After Truitt was shot twice in the back, he was immediately placed in handcuffs. Before losing consciousness at the scene, the teen's last words were, 'why did you shoot me?'" the release said.
His mother, Venethia Cook-Lewis, said in an October press conference her son "has never been a violent person - he has no violent history whatsoever," describing him as an ambitious student, an active church member who volunteered with organizations like Hosea Feed The Hungry, and a star athlete with a creative mind for fashion and design.
In that press conference, the family also expressed their lingering anger at having not been notified for 18 hours while Truitt was at Grady Memorial Hospital, which they said they were also escorted from as they tried to find him.
"My child died alone," Cook-Lewis said. "I have never let him down. I've always been there for him, and I wont stop now."
According to Griggs, Truitt was shot after getting out of a car, in which he had been a passenger, and that officers had pursued following the report of a stolen vehicle.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has said a handgun was "brandished" by Truitt before he was shot.
The family's attorneys have criticized what they characterized as shifting law enforcement accounts in the shooting, and noted that "brandishing" is not a term with legal significance in Georgia.
The GBI confirmed Director Vic Reynolds privately met with the family in October and their attorney. Truitt’s family attorneys said in a statement Reynolds told them he viewed the body camera footage which showed the teen “never pointed a gun at any officer. The officer never commanded Truitt to drop his weapon, stop, or not to move.”
The attorneys said the family would hold a press conference on Tuesday at 9 a.m. to further discuss the case.
It's not clear if Holmes, the district attorney, has been pursuing any case against the officer involved - or, if she has, how her loss in the November election might affect the status of the case, with a new district attorney set to assume the office.