Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Lawmaker demanding answers following Red Rock shooting

One lawmaker is now demanding answers from the Bureau of Land Management following an officer-involved shooting that took the life of a man in Red Rock Canyon. Action News was the first to find the letter from Congressman Steven Horsford's office. The letter shows Congressman Horsford putting heat on the BLM, looking closely into the circumstances that led to the shooting death of 20-year-old D'Andre Berghardt at Red Rock Canyon on Valentine's Day, all at the hands of BLM officers. In that letter, written on Monday, Horsford demands the deputy director of the BLM fully reveal, "The circumstances that led to the shooting of Mr. Berghardt," the "...Use of Force training BLM rangers undergo before deployment to the field," and finally, the "...Bureau's preliminary assessment of whether Use of Force protocols were followed." In a statement released nearly a week after the shooting, the BLM explained two of their officers shot and killed Berghardt after hitting him with multiple taser deployments, pepper spray, and a baton, all in an effort to remove him from the roadway where cyclists reported seeing a man walking in and out of traffic. Berghardt's family was left wondering why their son had to die. "Numerous ways they could have gotten him cuffed," Tracy Meadows, Berghardt's mother, told Action News. "I really don't know why they would just abuse him. It wasn't just abuse, it was like they toyed with him before they killed him." Now at least one lawmaker is demanding answers too...more

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