A Cottonwood police dash-cam video released today shows the chaos of a deadly March 21 melee between cops and a "close-knit" Idaho family of eight.
Enoch Graver, 21, was shot fatally by police in the brawl, and his 18-year-old brother was shot in the abdomen. Police Sergeant Jeremy Daniels was shot in the leg with his own gun.
The intense video shows that the fight began when police attempted to separate family members after contacting them in a Walmart parking lot. The family, some or all of whom are members of a traveling Christian band, had reportedly been living out of a Chevrolet Suburban SUV.
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"No, you're not going to separate me from my family," someone can be heard telling police just before the punches start flying.
In a news conference this morning, Cottonwood Police Chief Jody Fanning described the family members as near-indomitable fighters who used various tactics to avoid attempts at controlling them. Fanning told the news media that the suspects went for the officers' eyes, ears and mouths, rolled when shot by Tasers to disrupt the wires and break the electrical circuit, and feigned surrender only to keep attacking.
One older man withstands numerous blows to the face and at one point falls as if poleaxed to the ground, possibly due to a Taser strike. Yet he manages to keep getting back in the action.
Three citizens who can be seen aiding the officers were given awards this week in a ceremony in Cottonwood. Eight officers were injured.
Police had gone to the Walmart in response to a report that a female store employee had been assaulted by one or more of the family members.
"Matthew 24 Now is our band that has been in the works for many years! We are also known as Busking in The Son; as we have been busking on the streets of Boise Idaho for the last 3 years," according the family's website. "We won't do any events where there's gonna be illegal drugs. Or any form of promiscuity."
The surviving Gaver family members were booked into jail on suspicion of assault and other charges.
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