NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew addressed a video circulating online showing a police officer pointing his gun at an SUV and its driver over the weekend at City Center.
The video in question was taken by Sumyah Tate, a 17-year-old high school senior. Tate posted part of the video on Facebook, where it has been viewed thousands of times. She spoke with News 3 with her mother's permission.
Watch: NNPD officer seen pointing gun at SUV in City Center in video taken by Sumyah Tate
Tate says people gathered at City Center at about 2 a.m. Sunday following a high school prom in Hampton.
Her video shows the officer telling the driver to stop the SUV. In the video, Tate can be heard asking for the officer's identity.
"What's your badge number? What's your badge number?" Tate says. "Back up," the officer responded.
During the press conference on Tuesday, Drew said there is more context to the video that needed to be explained. He stated that police received reports of teens driving around city garages at 2 a.m. on Sunday, past the city’s 11 p.m. curfew for minors. He further described the scene on Sunday.
Watch full press conference: Newport News Police Chief Drew provides context behind viral video showing officer pointing his gun at an SUV
“30 or 40 vehicles, with 3, 4, 2, 5 individuals that are riding on cars, that are sitting on top of cars, sitting and falling into the sunroof of a car, dancing on top of a vehicle, hanging out of all four windows," Drew said, explaining the scene that officers responded to on Sunday. "Music, yelling, ranting, much like you would have at a party. Officers smelled marijuana in the air.”
The police chief went on to say that vehicles moved to the Ferguson Garage, where an officer came in contact with them.
Video taken from garage surveillance cameras was later showed at the press conference to contextualize the incident. Teens were seen driving around and dancing in and out of the vehicles. An officer is seen being almost hit by a car exiting the garage.
"I don’t want people to think that an officer got out of his vehicle, saw a dark colored vehicle with tinted windows and walks up and pulls a firearm out, that just — that didn’t happen," Drew said. "I've talked to that officer, his captain has talked to that officer, and the officer said: ‘I felt like I was about to be hit or run over, I turned, I addressed it, I pulled my weapon and ordered that vehicle to stop.’"
Tate's video shows the driver eventually rolling down the window with their hands up, and the officer approaching with his gun still drawn.
"We want to know why the gun was being drawn to the boy or the car period," Tate previously told News 3.
During the press conference on Tuesday, Newport News Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Jones affirmed her support for the officer seen in the video, saying he appropriately deescalated the situation.
“The officer was very scared in that moment as well,” Jones said. “What my takeaway from this video is, I watched the officer use his words, is what we always tell them — to communicate. He immediately explains to the young man why he stopped him, as soon as the young man puts his window down and the officer can see what’s going on, he holsters his weapon and he has that conversation with the young man and the situation deescalates.”
News 3 Newport News reporter Brendan Ponton asked Drew why only stills of the body camera footage were shown during the press conference. The police chief said this was for multiple reasons.
"One, the body-worn camera is going to have that interaction, it’s going to have the face of a young person in the vehicle and others that were there. Two, is because there were some charges, I think there were seven or 10 charges for individuals past curfew that will be used in court if it decides to go forward,” Drew said.
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