A special prosecutor said the deputy who shot and killed Sylvester Selby in Manteo on Oct. 3 will not face charges. But Selby’s family and the prosecutor disagree with what body camera video shows in the case.
The family’s lawyers are asking federal officials to investigate what happened in the shooting.
The prosecutor contends Selby, 44, ran down a set of stairs with a knife and lunged at officers. The family said Selby, who already had a stab wound to the chest, stumbled down the stairs and fell over a bicycle before he was shot, according to the family’s lawyers. Deputy Edward Glaser shot Selby twice more as he tried to get up, the lawyers said.
Sylvester Selby, 44, was shot and killed by a Dare County deputy Oct. 3. (Courtesy the Selby family)
“The use of deadly force appears reasonable under the circumstances, and Deputy Glaser was justified under North Carolina law in that it appeared that it was necessary to kill in order to save himself or others from death or great bodily harm,” said special prosecutor Charles Spahos.
Spahos was appointed to take over the case after a request for an independent special prosecutor from Dare County District Attorney Jeff Cruden.
“Some factual statements that were made inside the report, for example about Mr. Selby running towards the officer. They disagreed with that. That was not the case. As well as the allegation of some type of lunging,” said Harry Daniels, a civil rights attorney representing the family.
The family sued the Dare County Sheriff’s Office and Glaser, the deputy, in December.
The body camera video has not been made public. In North Carolina, body camera video from law enforcement cannot be made public without an order from a judge.
Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, another attorney, said she was with the family last year when they watched the body camera video.
“Mr. Selby was not coming down the steps in a threatening manner, nor was he running towards the officers,” she told Spectrum News 1. “The facts that are listed in the report are not accurate.”
In his report, the special prosecutor said Glaser and a sergeant with the sheriff’s office went to a home in Manteo for a trespassing call, where Selby was allegedly “trespassing and tearing stuff up inside of the residence.”
When the deputies got to the single-wide trailer, the homeowner who called police was outside, and the officers called for Selby to come out, the report said.
The special prosecutor said Selby eventually came out carrying a large knife and had blood on his shirt. The report said he ran down the steps at the deputies, and then Glaser shot him. Selby fell to the ground.
The deputies told Selby to stay on the ground, but he tried to get up again, the report said.
“Mr. Selby is on his hands and knees, leaps to his feet, and lunges at Deputy Glaser. Deputy Glaser, who had attempted to back away from Mr. Selby, fires two more rounds, striking Mr. Selby again,” according to the special prosecutor.
But the lawsuit filed in the case, and the response filed by the sheriff’s office, tell the story in a different way.
Selby was carrying a kitchen knife when he came out of the home. He stumbled down the stairs and tripped over a bicycle, according to the federal lawsuit. Glaser shot Selby as he fell, the lawsuit said.
Glaser shot Selby two more times as he tried to get up from the ground, according to court filings.
A filing by the sheriff’s office in the civil suit agreed with that summary.
The lawyers for Selby’s family said they will ask the federal Department of Justice to investigate the shooting.
“Based on what was said and what was told, it appears that an outside agency needs to come in to evaluate this shooting and determine if criminal charges should be brought,” Daniels said.
“Based on what transpired, what happened, it was adequate enough, the facts there alone to charge Glaser with the criminal charge of unlawfully killing Mr. Selby,” he said.
Charles Duncan
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