An attorney representing the family of a McKeesport man killed in an officer-involved shooting in North Huntingdon said the family has been denied access to police video and audio captured during the Sept. 5 incident.
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli on Thursday ruled that the shooting of 30-year-old Dontae Warner during an undercover narcotics investigation was justified.
Ziccarelli indicated Warner’s vehicle was considered a deadly weapon, stating that he accelerated it toward police officers in an attempt to flee when officers tried to apprehend him after an undercover drug buy in a rear parking lot at the Huntingdon Inn Motel.
Attorney Steve Barth said in a statement that he and Warner’s family were told in a meeting Thursday with the district attorney and law enforcement that they could not have access to recordings of the incident on police body and dash cameras because “it would compromise police investigations and that the identity of the police officers need to be protected.”
Ziccarelli said in a news release Thursday that she considers a criminal investigation into the shooting to be closed.
County prosecutors “were forthcoming in providing answers to all of the questions posed by the family of Mr. Warner,” Melanie Jones, spokesperson for the district attorney’s office, said Friday.
But the family would like to review the footage “to make sure that no civil rights violations exist against Mr. Warner,” Barth said. “This is a common problem when police agencies or law enforcement are involved in situations where members of the public are injured, whether by a shooting or a police chase or a car crash.”
“We are just asking to see the evidence (investigators) based their conclusions on,” Barth said.
He said Warner’s survivors “just want to know answers that will help them with the grieving process. It will help them understand why this happened. If it ends up being because of choices Dontae made, they’ll have to live with that.”
Barth said he would consult with the family before deciding whether to take legal steps in pursuing access to the police recordings.
Barth disclosed details of the Sept. 5 incident that he said the family learned in the meeting with Ziccarelli and others. The district attorney’s office has not confirmed those details to TribLive.
Barth said he and the family were told that Warner was shot six times, and that the officer who shot Warner could not be identified.
The family also learned that no weapon was found on Warner’s person or in his vehicle. In addition, no police vehicles were damaged in the incident.
According to the DA’s press release, Warner’s vehicle “struck two parked vehicles in close proximity to the officers” and one police officer suffered an unspecified injury as a result of the incident.
Barth said he was told no officers were injured.
An undercover officer set up a drug buy with Warner in the parking lot and learned that Warner had “threatened to harm him if he was a cop,” Ziccarelli’s statement said.
North Huntingdon police officers and agents of the state Attorney General’s Office were involved in the Sept. 5 drug investigation.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office has indicated state agents fired their weapons.
Jeff Himler is a TribLive reporter covering Greater Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Mt. Pleasant Area and Derry Area school districts and their communities. He also reports on transportation issues. A journalist for more than three decades, he enjoys delving into local history. He can be reached at jhimler@triblive.com.