Hours after new surveillance footage was released showing Officer Andrew Delke shooting Daniel Hambrick in the back, Hambrick’s mother spoke out.
“Something has to be done about this,” said Vickie Hambrick at a press conference. “I’m very hurt about my son. I just want justice.”
A few feet away from Hambrick, out of the sight of the television cameras, sat Sheila Clemmons Lee. She wore a black T-shirt with bold white letters. It read “Justice For Jocques” on the front and “Fire Offier Lippert” on the back.
It’s a shirt she’s worn often since February 10, 2017, when her son Jocques Clemmons
was killed by Officer Josh Lippert after running from traffic stop. Eighteen months later, Lippert remains with the department on administrative duty.
“I know exactly how this mother feels. ‘Dan Dan’ was her only child, but Jocques was my only son,” said Clemmons Lee. “And it breaks my heart to know that this has happened again.”
Clemmons Lee said she wants Hambrick’s mother to know she’s not alone. Her son, like Hambrick’s, was shot multiple times as he ran from a police officer. Both chasing officers said they feared for their lives because Clemmons and Hambrick were armed. Both families say the officers shouldn’t have fired because — even if they had weapons — they were running away and not aimed at officers.
Clemmons Lee compared that to Waffle House shooter Travis Reinking, a white man, who
triggered a massive manhunt after murdering four people earlier this year in Nashville.
“You know for a fact that he has a loaded weapon on him with ammunition, but yet he’s alive,” Clemmons Lee said. “That’s when you should have been fearing for your life.”
Reinking was apprehended without a shot being fired.
The officer who killed Jocques Clemmons was legally cleared of any wrongdoing. Clemmons Lee said she hopes that Hambrick’s mother will see another result.
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