Bodycam footage released of man fatally shot by Maple Heights police

The family of Datwuan Catchings has released extended body cam footage of the 22-year-old's fatal shooting at the hands of a Maple Heights police officer in Cleveland this past May.

In the video released at a press conference with attorney Stanley Jackson representing the family on Thursday, officers can be seen rapidly pursuing a vehicle in the early hours of May 30. After the vehicle being sought purportedly hit a deer, officers can be seen chasing Catchings, who they said was carrying a gun.

After Catchings ignores the officers' demands to stop, he can be seen climbing the fence of a house at East 93rd Street and Buckeye Road. At that point, an officer fires a single shot at Catchings, which appears to strike him in the back of his shoulder before he finishes climbing over the fence.

Officers proceeded to run around to the front yard of the house, where their bodycam footage captures Catchings stumbling before falling down. Officers then approach Catchings, who can be seen with a significant amount of blood while lying on the ground.

He was later pronounced dead and a handgun was recovered in the area.

"Datwaun Catchings was killed by a police officer unjustly," Jackson said during the briefing. "We want the truth to come out."

You can watch the entirety of the video in the YouTube player below.

In June, the Ohio Attorney General's Office announced that it would investigate the incident, as well as an incident in which Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority police officers fatally shot a 42-year-old man after he bit off an officer's finger in the 3400 block of East 98th Street.

Jackson says investigators have been slow to release information including additional video of the incident and personnel files for officers. Now, they are demanding change and transparency.

3News has also formally requested records for the officers involved. Jackson claims the officer who killed Catchings was a cadet in training and should not have been involved in the situation in the first place. We also reached out to Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell, who is also the safety director. She declined to comment on the incident.