Video of Lindani Myeni moments before officer-involved shooting
Myeni was in the house for 5 minutes.Newly released video offers a new perspective of the officer-involved shooting that killed 29-year old Lindani Myeni.
His family's attorney Jim Bickerton made the video captured on a Ring doorbell security system available to the public, claiming it supports his argument that the shooting was unjustified.
But another lawyer said the video is misleading.
Scot Brower -- the attorney for the homeowner and two tenants Myeni followed into their Nuuanu vacation rental house on April 14, said Myeni claimed he lived there.
"The video that's being shown is very deceptive. It makes it appear as if this guy was there for a very brief period of time. That's not true," Brower said.
Myeni is heard on the newly released video saying he knew the couple staying at the property. Brower said he began moving things around in the house.
"He went into that house and he was rummaging and they were trying to get him to leave."
Bickerton has said Myeni was likely searching for the Hare Krishna temple next door. But Brower doesn't believe that.
"At no time did he say, 'Is this the temple? Is this the Hare Krishna temple?' Never came up."
In the video Myeni is seen taking off his shoes before entering the house shortly after 8 p.m. He comes out less than 40 seconds later and stands by the doorway as the woman in the home talks to someone about a break-in.
She is then heard on a 911-call. Myeni begins apologizing to the woman and leaves the house.
Just minutes later he was shot during a scuffle with police and died from multiple gun wounds. The Honolulu Police Department said they were responding to a burglary call. HPD earlier released snippets of body cam video.
Ken Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project. said the video raises questions about HPD's narrative.
"He wasn't violent, he wasn't trying to hurt anybody," Lawson said. "He wasn't loud, he wasn't boisterous. He wasn't dangerous whatsoever."
*He never asked about the temple.
*He was rummaging through the house, claiming he lived there.
*He told the people present that he had video of them.
*He caimed to be on a hunt.
*He asked to see one of the people's cell phones.
* He refused to leave the house after being asked to leave repeatedly.
*He refused to leave the house after being warned that that the woman was going to call police.
* = creepy
I suspect this:
While the family says they release unaltered ring video, I think they released only Myeni entering the house and leaving the house without showing or stating how much time passed between Myeni's entry and exit. Ring only records when motion is detected. It stops recording if no movement is present.
They've been claiming, even after seeing the ring videos, that Myeni left the house immediately. They know that's not true.
That's really disturbing to me. Myeni's family's lawyer flat out lied to manipulate public opinion about what exactly the ring videos showed.* Yes, the ring videos showed that Myeni wasn't violent when he entered and exited the house. The ring videos also showed that Myeni stayed in the house for 5 minutes.
The video released by the family states that Myeni was in the house only 40 seconds. Yet, their video makes it look like he was in the house less than 10 seconds. Hmmm. Why the discrepancies?
That lie about the ring video being unaltered forces me to question Myeni's wife's comments about that night. I don't like doubting loved ones.
*Investigators definitely had the ring videos.