A Black woman advocating for justice in her husband’s death is accusing Alabama law enforcement officials of fabricating important aspects of the deadly encounter Sunday.
Cherelle Fletcher said in a Facebook post Monday she was in her family’s van when she watched Madison police kill her husband Dana Sherrod Fletcher in front of their 8-year-old daughter.
“AT NO POINT WAS HE ARMED. HE WAS UNARMED DURING THE ENTIRE TIME,” the woman said in the post. “HE WAS UNARMED!”
Law enforcement officers said Monday that Fletcher, 39, pointed a gun at Madison police officers and that video footage shows Fletcher fighting officers and holding the gun in his hand, according to The Birmingham News.
The Madison County sheriff’s office, however, which is investigating the incident, refused to release video footage of the encounter, the newspaper reported.
Authorities alleged officers were investigating a suspicious person call at about 4:30 p.m. when they encountered Fletcher at Planet Fitness, the authorities said.
The person who made the call reportedly said Fletcher and a woman were inside the business videoing people and asking personal questions, The Birmingham News reported.
Cherelle Fletcher said in her post she had just left the gym after exercising when an officer came to the passenger’s side of her van.
She was in the driver’s seat and her husband, on the passenger side, was about to close his door, Cherelle said.
“The officer refused to come on my side of the vehicle to talk and tried to stop my husband from closing his door,” she said. “When my husband tried to close his door repeatedly, the officer continued to tell him not to try to close it, grabbed the door, and grabbed my husband.
“Another officer sicked a dog on Dana while sitting in the passenger seat.”
Cherelle said at the same time, another officer came to her door “pointed a gun at me and broke my driver window with a police stick then pulled me out of the van while i was trying to get my daughter.”
“At no point did my Dana have a weapon on him,” Cherelle said.
Although Planet Smoothie owner Mike Bick reportedly told authorities he saw Dana Fletcher running in the incident, Cherelle said that’s not possible.
“Dana’s body lay right next to the van when he was shot, right by the passenger door,” she said. “Had he ran, he would not have been still right next to the vehicle when he was shot.
“I saw the officers shoot him and I saw his body on the ground covered in blood right next to the passenger door he was trying to close.”
Bick gave a different account to local TV station WZDX.
“Police officers showed up, knocked on the window,” Bick, told the station. “He would not open the door. We could hear them tapping on it two, three times. Finally they broke the window. We heard them yell to him to ‘stop, stop’ and after the third time we heard the gunfire.”
Bick also told WZDX that he believes the family had been living out of their van.
Cherelle, however contended that her family was only at Planet Fitness so she could work out.
“We had every right to be there just like any other paying member of the facility,” she said.
She said her daughter was injured in the incident and “went face first into the pavement and busted her lip and hurt her right leg.”
“Thankfully she’s still alive,” the mother said. “Why the police were there in the first place is still unclear to me.”
