MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The city of Bay Minette has asked a federal judge to bar expert testimony suggesting that body camera footage demonstrates that an officer fired his gun during a fatal encounter before the suspect grabbed for his gun.
The wrongful-death lawsuit accuses Officer Brandon Thompson of shooting Otis French Jr. without justification after pulling over his vehicle for a broken taillight in 2022. That video became available to the public after someone later discovered that federal court records included a website and password to download the footage and then posted it on YouTube.
In a court filing this week, lawyers for Bay Minette point to a report by expert witness Frank Fernandez submitted by the plaintiffs last month. In that report, Fernandez describes a still photograph of Thompson’s bodycam…