Dashcam video has been released of U.S. Park Police officers shooting former Virginia Commonwealth University graduate Bijan Ghaisar after a car chase in Fairfax County last November. Ghaisar later died from his injuries.
Ghaisar, who is Iranian-American, had been involved in an accident with an Uber driver, which his family’s lawyer states was “not his fault” in a Huffington Post article. But he left the scene, prompting the Uber driver to call and report his license number to police. Police pulled him over, with one officer immediately raising his gun, and Ghaisar fled with police in pursuit.
After stopping again, as seen in the video, two officers begin shooting. He was hit several times in the head and died two weeks later on Nov. 17.
From a Huffington Post article today:
The FBI is now investigating the case, but they initially opposed releasing the video. Federal authorities still haven’t named the two officers who killed Ghaisar, though the Interior Department has said they’re both on administrative leave. The lack of public information on the investigation has garnered criticism. The Washington Post’s editorial board criticized the dearth of information about the shooting last December, calling it “a mockery of the open society that distinguishes the United States from autocracies and dictatorships.”
Friends and family rememberd Ghaisar in this former WTVR piece.