CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- While Chesterfield County police and a county attorney have shown the body camera video of the fatal shooting of Charles Byers to reporters, the department is not planning on releasing the video to the public.
Chesterfield Police also fought a subpoena for the video and other investigative evidence to be entered into a federal lawsuit, but a judge denied Chesterfield's motion to quash. The court, however, did allow a protective seal on the materials, at least for now.
Peggy and Michael Byers went back and forth on whether they wanted the public to see the moments leading up to Chesterfield Police shooting and killing their mentally ill son Charles Byers on July 8, 2023.
And they landed at yes.
“Mike and I thought about it a lot and talked about it, and we weighed the pros and cons and the benefits and risks," Peggy said. “I think it's so good to have other eyes outside of the police department, outside of the Commonwealth's Attorney's office, to look and see, because there is more than one opinion, and people do see things differently."
However, Deputy County Attorney Julie Seyfarth said it's the department's policy to not release body camera footage of police shootings to the public, citing concerns about how videos can be manipulated by artificial intelligence.
CBS 6 and other reporters viewed the footage in a private meeting with Seyfarth and police personnel on Wednesday.
A full description of the video is here, but in short, the roughly 45 second interaction showed:
- Byers backing away from officers while facing them nearly the entire time
- Byers carrying a hatchet in his hand and by his side but not raising it at any point
- Officers giving about 15 commands for Byers to drop the weapon, to which he did not comply
- An officer first trying to use a taser on Byers as he continues backing away, but the taser did not work
- A second officer shooting at him five times as Byers continues backing away
- Byers then turning around to run away and the same officer firing two more shots at his back
- Byers dropping to the ground
Commonwealth's Attorney Erin Barr determined the officers' actions were justified but has not yet publicly explained her reasoning and declined CBS 6's request for her letter of declination of prosecution.
CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone said he understood Barr's decision not to prosecute but said the case did not appear cut and dry to him.
“I’ll admit this is not a textbook self-defense case for a civilian, but police officers are treated a little differently. And a prosecutor is going to be taking into consideration the duty to protect the public and duty to protect themselves," Stone said. “A prosecutor could exercise their discretion to charge in a case like this, and then leave it up to a jury to decide. But a prosecutor does have to exercise discretion and do what they think is best for the community.”
The video, and other investigative records, have now been brought into the Byers' $35 million lawsuit against HCA Healthcare and the City of Richmond, alleging their negligence caused Byers to die.
As previously reported, Byers was under a temporary detention order at the time of his death – meaning he was determined by the court to be a danger to himself or others and lacked the capacity to care for himself. Byers had schizoaffective disorder.
On July 6, he was ordered to receive mental health treatment at HCA's Chippenham Hospital's Tucker Pavilion for up to 72 hours. However, Byers was removed from the hospital by Richmond Police after refusing to get on an elevator and allegedly kicking a nurse.
Richmond Police's body camera video showing the moments leading up to Byers' hospital arrest was released as evidence in the lawsuit.
Byers was then taken to the city jail where he went before a Richmond magistrate who released Byers back into the community. 36 hours later, he ended up on Wycliff Court, less than a mile from his house, and encountered Chesterfield Police.
Defendants claimed that they couldn't have predicted the events that would transpire between Byers and Chesterfield Police and have submitted motions for the lawsuit to be dismissed. A judge has not yet ruled on those motions.
The Richmond Police officer being sued subpoenaed Chesterfield Police's video and other records, arguing they're relevant to determine a proximate cause of death.
However, Chesterfield Police tried to block it, claiming the materials are not important to the complaint at hand.
United States District Judge Roderick Young denied Chesterfield's motion to quash, ordering the county to produce the requested records. However, the court granted a protective order, which essentially prevents the video from being publicly disseminated.
Judge Young ordered Chesterfield Police to notify the court when its criminal investigation was over and, at that time, the judge would reevaluate the need to keep the records sealed.
Now that the criminal investigation has in fact concluded, the Byers family said it's their wish for the protective order to expire.
They'd like for the video to be used for training purposes and to possibly change how future interactions with law enforcement are handled.
“I think it's important that anybody who works in law enforcement or healthcare or anything like that has an opportunity to see what a mental health crisis looks like and learn how best to react and respond to people in that crisis," Peggy Byers said.
For comparison purposes, Richmond Police has a policy to release a briefing of body camera video of police shootings within two weeks of the incident, citing a desire to be transparent with the public.
Henrico Police does not have a specific policy for releasing video in officer-involved shootings but said they would treat any request for video as a standard public records request.
Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public bodies have discretion to withhold, from most requesters, criminal investigative files even when a case is closed. In Chesterfield, the county has a policy to withhold all records when an exemption applies, a policy that a judge recently said "clashes" with the intent of openness under FOIA.
However, the law also states criminal investigative records for closed matters must be disclosed to immediate family members of deceased victims.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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