The Denver Police Department is investigating after a video surfaced on social media appearing to show officers shooting pepper balls at a car while the driver yells that there is a pregnant woman in the vehicle.
In the video, which has now been shared widely on Twitter and Youtube, the man — who has since been identified by U.S. media as Shaiitarrio Brown — gets out of the vehicle on the driver’s side and yells at the officers that a pregnant woman is in the car.
“You shot up a car with a pregnant woman in it, with f–king tear gas,” he can be heard yelling.
It is not clear what happened before the video began, or why police were shooting at the car.
The video continues, appearing to show officers shooting more rounds of pepper bullets at the vehicle.
Brown continues to yell repeatedly that there is a pregnant woman in the car.
The officers appear to fire several more rounds before Brown gets back into the vehicle and drives away.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” Brown told NBC affiliate 9News. “I thought I was going to be the next Black man shot by police.
“I still feel that way.”
Brown told 9News the incident took place in downtown Denver last Saturday morning, where demonstrators had gathered to protests the death of George Floyd — a Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis.
But Brown said he and his pregnant fiancée, Brittany King, were not protesting, but delivering food for DoorDash.
“We were working,” Brown said. “For them to just go out of their way to shoot innocent people was unfair. And then I proceeded to tell them that there’s a pregnant woman in the car, and that’s when they unloaded 50 to 75-plus rounds into my car with my pregnant girlfriend in it.”
King told ABC News affiliate Denver7 that she was “scared.”
“I didn’t know what to think,” she said. “I know I had my window down and when the first shots came in, it hit my hand because I tried to cover my face.”
The couple’s attorney, Scott Melin, told NBC News that when the pair arrived at the hospital, the fetus had a high heart rate.
Melin said by Friday afternoon King was still experiencing cramps, difficulty breathing and eating, and had suffered a broken bone in her hand from trying to block her face.
Melin told NBC he wants to reach a settlement with the Denver Police Department for monetary damages and a commitment from the department to institute reforms.
Melin said that without an agreement, he will file a civil suit.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, the Denver Police Department said an investigation into the incident was ongoing.
“Chief (Paul) Pazen is listed as the complainant in this case,” the tweet reads.
ALERT (1/2): Regarding the viral video where officers shoot pepper balls at a vehicle stopped in traffic, DPD is aware of the incident and an investigation into the matter is ongoing. Chief Pazen is listed as the complainant in this case… #Denver
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) June 4, 2020
The force said as of Thursday evening, the couple involved had been identified, but that officers were still trying to “make contact with them.”
UPDATE: The persons in the video have been identified. We are still working to make contact with them. #Denver
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) June 4, 2020
Global News reached out to the Denver Police Department for an update, and to determine if Brown and King had filed a formal complaint, but did not hear back by time of publication.
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