A traffic stop in Savannah resulted in a man’s death after the GBI said he got out of the car with a gun and started moving toward one of the officers who had pulled him over.
Maurice Sentel Mincey, 36, was shot by an officer July 17 and pronounced dead at the scene, the GBI said in a news release. The shooting was reported shortly after 9:30 p.m. blocks from the city’s historic district.
According to the GBI, a Savannah police officer saw a car pass a stop sign without stopping on East Bolton Street. Officers pulled the car over and began talking to the driver outside the vehicle.
At some point, police noticed a passenger inside the car moving around, the GBI said. Police told the passenger, later identified as Mincey, to stop moving and to show the officers his hands.
“Savannah Police Officer Thomas Love, who was standing at the driver’s door, commanded Mincey to put his hands in the air,” a GBI official said in the release.
Mincey “disregarded” the officer’s command and opened the passenger door, the official said. He then “abruptly” started getting out of the car in the direction of another officer, who was positioned on the passenger side of the vehicle, according to the agency.
As the man climbed out of the car, Love shot him, the GBI said.
In their initial statement, which came hours after the fatal incident, the GBI said Mincey pointed the gun at the officer before he was shot. Four days later, the agency issued an updated release stating that body camera footage showed Mincey take a gun out of his waistband and put it between his legs while he was sitting in the car.
In a news conference, Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones clarified that the bodycam footage verified that Mincey did not point a gun at the officer during the stop, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Jones did not comment further on whether Mincey had a gun, citing “a matter that goes to the underlying facts of the case,” the news outlet reported.
“If we should decide, upon thorough review, that criminal charges are appropriate, the evidence will be sealed until the case is resolved,” Jones said. “If we should decide that criminal charges are not warranted, our investigation will be closed. And at that time, the evidence will be made available to the public.”
Mincey’s body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy, and officials confirmed he died from gunshot wounds. The incident remains under investigation.
No officers were hurt during the incident, which was the 54th shooting involving law enforcement that the GBI had been asked to investigate this year.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also tracks officer-involved shootings that don’t involve the GBI, and those numbers sometimes differ from the GBI’s tally.
About the Author
