‘JUST WALKING HOME’

Witness Disputes Claim Black Man Jumped Onto North Carolina Deputy’s Car Before He Was Shot Dead

Police claim Jason Walker leapt onto a North Carolina deputy’s vehicle—one witness says otherwise.

On Saturday, police in North Carolina claimed an off-duty sheriff’s deputy shot and killed 37-year-old Black man Jason Walker after he allegedly leapt onto the deputy’s moving truck. But, by Sunday, a group of protesters had gathered outside the Fayetteville police station after a witness said the account given by police was false. Police initially claimed that Walker, who was pronounced dead at the scene, “ran into traffic and jumped on a moving vehicle” driven by an unnamed deputy who then shot Walker and called 911. But Elizabeth Ricks, a trauma nurse who said she witnessed the incident and tried to help Walker, told the gathered crowd at the police station protest that he was simply trying to cross the street when he was hit by the deputy’s vehicle and then shot. “I did not see anyone in distress. The man was just walking home,” said Ricks, according to The News & Observer. Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins said on Sunday: “We would like to hear from anyone who saw what happened.”