‘They just want the full story’: plea made to Assembly for the release of deadly police shooting footage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A community political leader has joined a growing number of voices — including Kris Handy’s family — in asking Anchorage Police Chief Designee Bianca Cross to release body camera footage from last week when officers shot and killed the 34-year-old.

As Tuesday’s Anchorage Assembly meeting extended past midnight, Anchorage Party for Socialism and Liberation member Michael Patterson, who has a long history of pushing for APD to get body cameras, pleaded with Assembly members to urge police leadership to make body camera footage available to the public.

“They [the Handy family] just want the full story ... They deserve the full story, the public deserves a full story,” Patterson told Assembly members. “The issue is that the chief of police went on TV and said this man pointed a gun, and then when a video came out and contradicted that, suddenly we have to wait ... So the APD can say definitively, factually, this is what happened, but when something comes out and says actually this calls into question what that narrative is, now we have to wait for a process.”

Handy was shot by multiple police officers shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Monday, May 13 outside of his Sand Lake apartment while his fiancée Harmony Stitt and children were inside.

During a previous news conference and written statement, Cross said Handy “raised a long gun” at police and was already outside of the building once police arrived. However, a neighbor’s home security footage, shared with Alaska’s News Source, appears to show the gun was pointed at the ground at the time shots rang out. At least 10 shots can be heard on the video as Handy falls to the ground motionless.

According to Stitt, she had asked a neighbor to call for help after Handy’s depression spiraled due to what they believed at the time had been a recent miscarriage. She became increasingly concerned he might hurt himself once Handy had mixed new medication with alcohol and retrieved one of his guns, though there was doubt around whether it would work after the firing pin was removed.

This was the department’s first officer-involved shooting for the year, according to APD. Cross has maintained comments made in her initial statement that the footage will be withheld until the investigation concludes.

Prior to Patterson’s statement at Tuesday’s meeting, Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel read from an email she sent Chief Designee Cross, saying she had requested the body camera footage be provided to the Assembly by the end of the week, Friday, May 24.

“If it is APD’s continued position to release the footage at the end of the investigation, clarity on exactly what constitutes the end of the investigation is also requested,” Zaletel stated. “This request is made so the Assembly can be clear on APD and MOA’s position regarding the release of the footage and then the Assembly can consider the information and possible policy options available to it.”

In a statement to Alaska’s News Source Wednesday, Assembly Chair Chris Constant echoed Zaletel.

“I think Ms. Zaletel’s comment last night asking for a clear statement from the Chief Designee is essential. What is the plan for release. Not just a general statement,” Constant wrote. “The Assembly doesn’t have access to the content. We have the same access as the public at this time. That said, as this is the first time we have crossed this bridge, how the Department proceeds will surely impact potential future policy proposals from the Assembly.”

“I am sorry for the family’s loss,” Constant went onto write. “I am also greatly concerned about the dissonance between the public statements of the department versus the neighbor’s footage. As we square up the facts, the Assembly will look at the policy going forward.”

Earlier on Tuesday, fellow Assembly member Zac Johnson, a former marine and state trooper, told Alaska’s News Source while he would like to see an expedited release of the body camera footage, he took a more cautious tone saying the process should play out.

“There was some initial information put forth [by police], and we found later with a review of some footage that maybe those weren’t the exact circumstances,” Johnson said. “But I think that speaks to sort of the underlying tension between the need to get information out quickly, but also takes the steps to make sure that information is correct.”

Patterson is part of the group organizing the “Justice For Kris Handy” rally, scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Delaney Park Strip.

Handy’s family and supporters say they hope ending their march at APD’s downtown headquarters will mean the department releases body camera footage from that night.

A friend of the victim’s family set up a GoFundMe page to support Stitt and her children.

Editor’s note: Alaska’s News Source makes no representations or warranties of any kind about the authenticity, accuracy, or reliability of any GoFundMe campaign. Any donations you make to such campaigns are strictly at your own risk. If you have any questions related to the authenticity, accuracy, or reliability of a GoFundMe campaign, please contact GoFundMe directly or consult the GoFundMe Guarantee Policy.

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