People questioning use of deadly force after man shot and killed by Phoenix PD

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - The Phoenix Police Department says officers shot and killed a man Saturday night after he threw rocks at them.

Police say officers were crossing 19th Avenue and Tuckey Lane when they heard something hitting their car. Officers pulled over, got out of the car, and told the man to stop throwing the rocks. He refused to stop and that is when the shooting happened. Police say 34-year-old Ali Osman was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

People who worked with Osman told Arizona’s Family reporter Michael Raimondi that he had a mental illness. They told him off-camera that his friends and family are devastated that he was shot and killed.

Community Organizer Bruce Franks Jr. says this shooting was not justified. He believes officers didn’t have to shoot in this situation. “There was no non-lethal options used at all. It went from him throwing rocks to them shooting guns. That’s not a match,” he said. “There were a whole bunch of missing steps before we got to the shooting.”

Franks says officers should have tried talking to Osman to figure out why he was throwing rocks at them. However, he doesn’t think throwing rocks gives officers the right to fatally shoot someone. “At the end of the day he should still be alive. Phoenix Police by their own account though it was reasonable enough of danger to resort to deadly force. It’s just another show of how deadly Phoenix PD is.”

Below you will find the pages of the Phoenix Police Operation Order. It details when officers may use deadly force.

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