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A videotape should exist showing the death of Marvin Booker inside Denver’s new jail, and Booker’s family wants it released to the public.
Inmate witnesses allege deputies used excessive force when they restrained and Tased Booker after he ignored a deputy’s orders. Denver police are investigating the death and have the video, which could hold the answers to many questions, notes 9News. Last night, dozens of people gathered in front of the jail to protest.
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“Mr. Booker very well may have been murdered at the hands of city officials; we don’t know and that is our concern,” says Darold Killmer, the Tennessee-based lawyer for Booker’s family.
Captain Frank Gale, a spokesman for the Denver Sheriff’s Department, acknowledges that “the family deserves to know what happened to Marvin during his last footsteps on Earth. That information may show that he was murdered, or it may clear the officers, who are living under this shroud of suspicion.”
Fox 31 is the latest news outlet to speak with an inmate who witnessed the incident. The inmate, who doesn’t want to be identified, says Booker was placed in a choke hold just moments before he was Tased. “I think he was dead before then; they either broke his neck or choked him,” the witness claims.