FULTON COUNTY, Ga. (CW69 News at 10) — More than three years after an East Point officer-involved shooting left a man paralyzed, his attorneys received the never-before-seen dashcam footage of the incident. They released the video to the public on Friday, and gave an update on the case.
The dashcam video from December 2018 shows police officers trying to stop Devin Nolley in a Publix parking lot after they followed him from a gas station on Camp Creek Parkway for allegedly driving a stolen vehicle.
The video shows officers shooting at him as he maneuvers around a police cruiser. Then, Nolley led them on a chase to I-285, where officers performed a pit maneuver to stop the car. As he jumps out of the car and takes off running, you can hear officers firing multiple gunshots.
“He was suspected of stealing a vehicle, and now he’s a quadriplegic,” said one of his attorneys, Carlos Moore, a managing partner of The Cochran Firm. “I haven’t seen anything so egregious in my life, for simply being a suspect in a stolen vehicle.”
The incident left Nolley paralyzed from the neck down.
“They had no justification under law. He was clearly running away into the woods, not threatening their lives or anyone’s lives,” said Moore. “Can you imagine spending the rest of your life — your natural life — in a bed in a nursing home; can’t do anything for yourself?”
Nolley is now in his mid-thirties and has a young daughter. The attorneys filed a $30 million civil suit in 2019 against former East Point Officers Rodney Etienne and Shiron Nicole Varner, as well as the cities of East Point and South Fulton.
“It is Fani Willis who secured the indictments, so we’re here to thank Fani Willis for doing her job,” Moore said.
Once the Georgia Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation, it handed the file over to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who indicted the two officers earlier this month.
“It was because a thorough job was done that they decided to move forward, because I believe that, if they think that they’re going to bring this case, they can get a conviction,” said James Bryant, another attorney with The Cochran Firm.
The officers are charged with violating their oath, reckless conduct, aggravated battery, and assault.
“Here is hoping that the City of East Point and the City of South Fulton will do the right thing and take care of him for the rest of his life, because he’s going to have medical expenses until the day he stops breathing,” said attorney Jackie Patterson.
“They knew what they were doing was wrong,” said Moore. “They were thugs, and they deserve to spend the rest of their lives in prison.”
The case is now set to go to trial, and as of Friday afternoon, there was no word on a trial date.
