'My brother should be alive': Man killed by police, family says cops could have saved him

DECATUR, Ga. - As the nation follows Derrick Chauvin’s guilty verdict, a police killing of a Black man in the Atlanta area is drawing scrutiny.

The family of Matthew Zadok Williams says he would likely be alive today if officers aided him after they shot him. A doctor hired by the family to do their own autopsy agreed.

"I do believe it would have been possible," Dr. Jackson Gates said at a news conference held by the family and their legal team Tuesday. "There wasn’t a lot of blood clot, so that gave me the impression that he was not quite dead, and could have been salvageable in my opinion."

Police shot and killed Williams, 35, last Monday after they got a call about a man with a large knife at an apartment complex on Terrace Trail in Decatur.

RELATED: Officer fatally shot man that lunged with knife, officials say

The body cam video shows Williams come at an officer with a knife in his hand, then police shot at him. The footage shows that he then went back into the house and officers fired again on him.

The family said was he having a mental health crisis — and they wish police would have gotten him help.

"My brother should be alive. He should be recovering from his wounds in the hospital," said Buelah Williams, his older sister, who is a doctor herself. "I was at the hospital when they called me and let me know. I don’t understand why he’s not here, why no care was rendered."

The DeKalb County Police Department thought the house he ran into was vacant and busted down the door. Lawyers for the family said he has owned the house for 15 years.

The family also claimed police selectively released body camera footage to fit their narrative.

"We demand that the full video footage be released immediately," one of his sisters said at the news conference. "All body cam angles."

DeKalb County police did not respond to a request for comment on those claims.

The GBI’s Medical Examiner’s Office, which is conducting the official autopsy, has not yet released its findings.

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