The mother of a Virginia high school teacher who was fatally shot by a cop earlier this week is disputing the police account of her son’s death.
Richmond police shot and killed Marcus-David L. Peters on Monday after claiming that he had charged one of its officers after hitting three cars, leading police on a chase, and dancing and rolling naked on a local highway.
“That was not my son,” his mother Barbara Peters told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “This is just so out of character. Something went terribly wrong.”
Peters, 24, was a local high school science teacher who had recently graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with honors.
Police reports say that Peters was driving when he hit another vehicle and continued driving. Despite being pursued by police cars, he struck two other vehicles. When he emerged from his crashed car, he was naked and started dancing and rolling on the highway.
When an officer approached him, Peters allegedly charged him. The officer tried to unsuccessfully tase Peters and was forced to fire his gun. Peters later died in the hospital.
The officer that shot him remains unidentified but has currently been placed on administrative leave amid an ongoing investigation, the Times-Dispatch reports.
“We are all deeply affected by what happened here — by the loss of life,” Police Chief Alfred Durham Durham said in a statement. “Our officers do not take the use of deadly force lightly. I think it’s important to remember that being naked does not remove a threat. So far, the eyewitness accounts we’ve heard have been consistent: our officer tried using verbal commands, then used non-lethal force first by deploying his taser before using his service weapon.”
