The family of a retired black US Army major are demanding an investigation into his fatal shooting at the hands of New Jersey police officers, alleging that he was wrongfully gunned down while in the throes of a mental health crisis that might have been triggered by fireworks.
Gulia Dale III, 61, was shot multiple times by Newton police officers just after 9.30pm on the Fourth of July after the veteran's wife called 911 to report that he was armed and 'acting crazy.'
Redacted body camera video that was released by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office earlier this month shows officers arrive at an address on Clive Place in Newton to find Dale, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, sitting in the driver's seat of his pickup truck.
Body camera footage from the Newton Police Department shows police confront Army veteran Gulia Dale III, 61, outside his home in New Jersey on July 4
In the video, Dale refuses officers' commands to get down on the ground and grabs something from the backseat of his truck
Dale appears to point something toward the officers, who open fire on him
Dale was a married father who served in the military for 30 years. His family said he had PTSD and would get trigged by loud noises
An officer orders Dale to get out of the vehicle. The man briefly complies with the command, but then opens the rear passenger door and appears to grab something from the backseat.
He momentarily climbs back into the driver's seat and then emerges pointing something in the direction of the responding officers, two of whom open fire on him.
Dale collapses to the ground, bleeding profusely. He was later pronounced dead.
Investigators said a .45-caliber Glock was found next to Dale's body.
According to Dale's family, the veteran was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his military service, which may have been set off by his neighbors' Independence Day fireworks displays that night, reported NBC News.
Dale's sister, Valerie Cobbertt, and the NAACP together have filed an internal affairs complaint, calling on the Newton Police Department to investigate what the civil rights organization dubbed an 'alleged, unspeakable execution.'
Cobbertt said she believes police would have responded to the 911 call differently had her brother been white.
Dale is pictured bleeding on the ground after being struck by multiple rounds outside his home in Newton,
