Man Says Video Shows Fed. Way Police Shooting Not Justified

A man who lives at a home where police shot and killed a man outside his fence says his home video shows the shooting was not justified.

The shooting Tuesday came after a slow-speed chase that began in the WalMart parking lot on 16th Avenue South and ended when officers rammed the pickup off the road, then opened fire at South 360th.

Police said the driver tried to back up over an officer. But some witnesses believe that never happened.

Skip Leingang shot some home video after the pickup crashed through his backyard fence.

Seconds earlier, Leingang said he heard Federal Way police fire eight to ten shots, hitting the driver in the back of the head.

Afterward, police told Leingang why officers killed the driver.

“(They said) he crashed into a police car and tried to kill a police officer,” said Leingang.

Federal Way police later explained that the driver, 23-year-old Dave Young, who was driving a stolen pickup, was shot when he tried to throw the truck in reverse, trying to hit an officer behind him.

"To me it seems there’s an injustice being done," said Leingang. He and his wife said they believe the shooting was not justified.

“I don’t believe that this person tried to run over a police officer. And I don’t believe that this truck was moved or backed up,” said Leingang.

Leingang explained that after police rammed the truck into the fence, the truck was high-centered, balanced on a broken post, with the back wheels raised off the ground.

Leingang pointed out the truck’s position from the home video he shot.

“It’s high-centered on that hump. There’s absolutely no way that truck tried to back out,” said Leingang.

Skip said his fence post was facing in the opposite direction under the truck. He said it was pulled back like a lever when the pickup was towed out.

“If he had backed out, this post would be pointed this way in the picture. It’s not. After we got here, he was shot, we saw the post this way on the pictures,” Leingang showed KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Gary Horcher.

Leingang is taking his video and his story to investigators.

“We need to take a real close look at the evidence. Because in my mind, that truck never moved,” said Leingang.

Previous Stories: September 2, 2010: Police Kill Man After Chase, Crash In Federal Way