Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala.
A nude University of South Alabama freshman had taken LSD and assaulted others before he chased the campus police officer who fatally shot him, authorities said Tuesday, though the student wasn’t armed and didn’t touch the officer.
Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said at a news conference that 18-year-old Gil Collar took the potent hallucinogen during a music festival Saturday before assaulting two people in vehicles and attempting to bite a woman’s arm.
Authorities said Collar then went to the campus police headquarters, where he was shot by university police officer Trevis Austin. Austin is on leave while investigators review the shooting.
Video taken by a surveillance camera showed Collar nude and covered in sweat as he pursued the retreating officer more than 50 feet outside the building, Cochran said. Collar got within 5 feet of Austin, and the officer fired once, striking the student in the chest, Cochran said.
Cochran said Austin came out of police headquarters with his gun drawn after he heard Collar — a 5-foot-7, 135-pound former high school wrestler — banging on a door.
Comments
This young man made all the wrong moves. But I am quite certain the officer is not Judge Dredd either. The officer is afoul of the law in that he had no immediate threat of grievous bodily injury. A young man lost his life, was denied his constitutional rights and an officer is going to have to be held to account. What a mess. Dumb kids on both sides.