Family Of Joseph Mann Speaks Out On Release Of Videos

SACRAMENTO (CBS 13) - The family of Joseph Mann is calling for justice after he was killed by police in July. They have been pushing to see these videos since the shooting and now that they have a visual, they say it's clear that police acted too quickly.

"For them to just get out they cars and start shooting my brother, you know, being judge jury and God, it's just not right," said Robert Mann, Joseph's brother.

It all happened in a matter of minutes. Four different videos released by Sacramento Police Department on Tuesday showed police encountering a 50-year-old Joseph Mann, a mentally-ill homeless man with a knife. Eleven minutes after SPD got the call, Mann was on the ground on Del Paso Boulevard, hit 14 times after police fired their weapons 18 times.

"It's not right, these officers need to be held accountable, they need to be charged with murder because they are murderers and they've been doing this for a long time," Mann said.

He and family attorneys John Burris and Mark Harris have been calling for police transparency since Mann's death this summer. Attorney John Burris said the dashcam videos show that Mann was not as big of a threat to police as they say he was. And he believes that police acted too quickly.

"No matter what had been said, no matter what he had been done before, at the time he was shot, he was not being aggressive, he was not threatening the officers," Burris said. "The video tapes and audio tapes will go along ways for the public's understanding of what happened."

The Mann Family and their attorneys are disappointed that the police department did not release the videos to the family in private before releasing them publically.

"For our family to see the video out there before we have the chance to see it was disheartening," Mann said.

According to Sacramento police, efforts were made through the mayor's office to contact the family first before publically releasing the videos.

"It's unprecedented for us to release video before we go through the adjudication process, but with all of the information out there, we wanted to make sure that you know, that we continue to be as transparent as we can," said Sacramento Police Chief Sam Somers at a press conference on Tuesday.

Shortly after the shooting, cell phone video capturing the event was released. And in recent weeks, Councilmember Allen Warren said it became apparent the city needed to get involved.

"There are times that we're in today, something it's important that we come out with this video or audio or some of these files before we get to that process," Somers said.

The family is calling for the immediate termination and prosecution of the officers involved.