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Credit: Instagram
Lydia McLaughlin and her family, including dad Scott and brother Jesse, are reacting to the release of body cam footage of her other brother, Geoffrey Stirling, being fatally shot by police.
After the Newport Beach Police Department shared the video on Wednesday, revealing details about the April 17 shooting, the 44-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County alum confirmed plans to file a lawsuit against the organization, whom she has accused of “unjustified use of lethal force.”
In the video, Geoff tells the cop when he is approached in his motorcycle, “I haven’t been drinking, officer. I’m fully sober, I’m just trying to stay safe. People have almost been hitting me all day.”
After the officer asks him to sit down, he responded “I don’t care what you’re telling me to do.”
Geoff then tried reaching for his ID, while also asking the officer not to shoot him. “Don’t shoot me,” he said.
“I’m not going to shoot you,” the officer replied. “Don’t reach for f***ing s***, how about that?”
The two continued to argue for close to 30 seconds when Geoff appeared to take some steps toward the officer. That led to a physical altercation during which Geoff allegedly reached for the officer’s taser and tried to point it at the officer’s head. The officer then retaliated by shooting Geoff six times.
The video is posted on YouTube.
“The videos have raised serious concerns and many questions about the actions of that police officer,” the Stirling family told Us Weekly on May 8, via their attorneys. “Of grave and specific concern is that the videos appear to show Geoff moving away from the officer at the time he was shot six times. The family through their Attorneys plan to file a lawsuit in Federal Court to obtain full answers and seek accountability.”
The family’s statement came in response to a briefing video from the police department, which was shared on Facebook.
“The Newport Beach Police Department remains committed to transparency and accountability in all of its operations,” the department said. “The release of this video is part of our ongoing efforts to keep the community informed and engaged.”
In the video, Sergeant Steve Oberon claimed the shooting took place after “Mr. Stirling struck the officer several times in the head and then removed the officer’s taser from his duty belt.”
However, Geoffrey’s family believes the body cam footage proves otherwise.
“Geoff was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was stopped for a traffic infraction. Geoff was unarmed and posed no deadly threat to the officer,” the family insisted in a statement. “The Stirling family expects that all video and audio footage along with every report and shred of evidence related to this deeply disturbing shooting be preserved for presentation in due course as part of the lawsuit the family will be pursuing. The cause of death was blood loss.”
While the family alleged that “no aid was initially offered” to Geoffrey, Sergeant Oberon said officers “formulated a plan to take Mr. Stirling into custody and begin administering medical aid. A few minutes after the shooting, the Newport Beach Fire Department arrived on scene and took over medical treatment.”
Additionally, Police Chief Dave Miner said that “an independent agency [would] conduct their own independent investigation.”
On May 5, Lydia, who lost her mom, Judy Stirling, to cancer at the end of last year, confirmed Geoffrey, who was 45 at the time of the shooting, had been laid to rest in an Instagram post.
“Yesterday, we laid my brother to rest. Just six months ago, we stood in this same place, grieving the loss of my mom. My heart is broken, and the shock still hasn’t settled. But even in the sorrow, I cling to what I know is true: God is good,” she declared. “He is in control. I am not. My brother is now with my mom, and I hold onto the promise that one day, we’ll all be reunited. Until then, I will miss them every single day.”
The family went on to state that they are “heartbroken and devastated” that Geoffrey “was taken from them in what appears to be an unjustified use of lethal force.”
“Equally tragic is that there may have been other options and tactics available to the officer that he failed to utilize based on his training,” the statement concluded.
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