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Attorney questions officer's actions in Midtown shooting
The family attorney claimed the undercover officer failed to quickly identify himself to Wilborn.
ATLANTA - Atlanta police sources told FOX 5 that a deadly encounter between an undercover police officer and a motorist may have been avoided had there been backup.
FOX 5 obtained cell phone video showing the seconds leading up to the single shot which killed James Wilborn.
The plain-clothed officer was in Midtown Atlanta on assignment looking for potential car thieves.
Police said he was interrupted when he ran to help an injured woman who fell from the hood of a vehicle.
That vehicle belonged to Wilborn.
Minkah Merritt, a family attorney, claimed Wilborn was the real victim in the situation. The attorney said the woman was attacking him.
The officer, unsure of the circumstances, became involved in an altercation with Wilborn and ultimately fired the deadly shot.
A crime scene investigators takes pictures of a white Mercedes-Benz and surrounding roadway after police say a plain clothes officer was forced to open fire during a road rage dispute along West Peachtree Road near 16th Street in Midtown Atlanta on O … (Rob DiRienzo / FOX 5)
The family attorney claimed the undercover officer failed to quickly identify himself to Wilborn.
"My client did not know who he was," said attorney Merritt.
The issue of notification had not been answered.
Veteran Atlanta officers later weighed in saying there should have been backup officers, also known as a "takedown team," ready to come in with overwhelming force in order to bring an individual to the ground without any gunplay.
James Wilborn (Family photo)
The responsibility of the undercover officer, according to those police sources, is to radio or signal that a volatile situation is taking place.
Sgt. John Chafee, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department, said he was limited in what he could say about the incident because the case had been turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. However, on the undercover assignment before the gunfire, Chafee said "protocols" were in place that night.
The officer was taken off the street pending a review by the GBI and the Fulton County District Attorney.