BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Three days after 18-year-old Jabari Peoples was shot and killed by Homewood police, his family says they’re still waiting for a phone call—and the truth.
According to the family’s attorney, Leroy Maxwell Jr., the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which is now leading the investigation, has yet to grant them access to the police body camera footage from that night.
While Alabama law gives families the right to view body cam footage in cases involving deadly force, it doesn’t clearly specify when—or how much—they are entitled to see. The lack of transparency has left the family with more questions than answers.
Maxwell says the family’s requests to view the footage have been met with silence.
“It doesn’t make sense why we’re not getting the answers that we deserve from law enforcement. Specifically from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency,” Maxwell said. “The family deserves to see the video. Give us a timeline when we can view the video and stop the charade and misleading the public to make it seem as if you’re working with us. We’re here, we’re available, they know how to find us. Allow us to view this footage.”
In a statement released earlier this week, the Homewood Police Department said arrangements are being made to coordinate the video viewing. But Maxwell insists that there’s been little to no real communication with the family. In his words, what’s being portrayed publicly is a “charade.”
The pain for the family began long before the issue of the video arose. According to Maxwell, Jabari’s parents weren’t even notified that their son had died until more than 12 hours after the shooting—and only after they saw news coverage about a deadly police-involved shooting in Homewood.
“The father was watching TV and saw that a young man had been gunned down in Homewood,” Maxwell recalled. “And he thought, ‘boy that’s unfortunate, that’s a sad thing.’ He had no idea they were talking about his own son.”
By the time the family learned what had happened, Maxwell says an autopsy had already been performed—and no one had reached out to ask them to identify Jabari’s body.
“I would say it’s completely inappropriate,” Maxwell said. “It’s completely atypical for a victim like this to be shot, to be killed, and his closest of kin not even be asked to come identify the body. His mother, his father—they didn’t identify him before he had an autopsy done or before he was moved to a funeral home. They didn’t see him at all.”
Despite what the law allows, the family has yet to see the body cam video. Maxwell says they’ve done everything ALEA has asked of them to expedite the process.
“We’ve done everything possible and everything ALEA has asked us to view this footage now, to view it immediately,” he said. “And they won’t even do us the consideration of giving us a timetable of when we can watch the video.”
As the investigation continues, questions remain about what happened during the encounter between Jabari and the Homewood officer. Police say the officer approached the vehicle after allegedly smelling marijuana. Maxwell says that even if marijuana was found, it should never have escalated into a fatal shooting.
“All those things may be true, but it doesn’t lead to death,” Maxwell said. “If you do something like that, it’s a fine. If that was a young white man, in a baseball T-shirt or something being pulled up on by officers, I think he’s probably still alive today.”
Jabari’s girlfriend, who was in the car with him that night, told the family that Jabari never had a gun and didn’t resist arrest—directly contradicting statements made in the police report.
“If this video shows what we think it’s going to show,” Maxwell said, “then Homewood and law enforcement need to be prepared to take accountability for it.”
As of this article, ALEA has said it will not be releasing any further information at this time. The Homewood Police Department has not responded to additional requests for comment.
What is the autopsy process in Jefferson County?
6 On Your Side Investigates continues to dig for answers on the death notification policy. What does state law say about notifying next of kin and were the proper steps followed in the death of Jabari Peoples?
It’s still unclear why the Peoples family says it took so long for them to be notified.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s office tells WBRC any type of death whether it’s a police shooting, drug overdose or wreck, rarely has no bearing on when an autopsy is performed. Typically, the exam or autopsy will be performed within 24 hours following a death, according to Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates. Yates says depending on what time they assume jurisdiction in a case and have a body taken to their facility, an exam may happen within one to two hours or the following day. Yates says they perform those exams on the dayshift, 365 days a year including weekends and holidays.
When it comes to having a family’s consent, Yates said:
“There is no statutory requirement for our office to seek permission from next of kin to take custody of a body, assume jurisdiction, or perform a postmortem examination. The types of cases we are allowed to take custody is determined by the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner Commission, which is a regulatory body established by the same local law that formed our office in 1979.”
What’s the timeframe for performing an exam or autopsy? Here’s what Yates told us:
“The type of death (drowning, drug overdose, motor vehicle wreck, police shooting, etc.) rarely has any bearing on when a postmortem examination is performed. Typically, the examination or autopsy will be performed within 24 hours following death. Depending on the hour of the day in which we assume jurisdiction in the case and have the body transported to our facility, a postmortem examination may occur within 1-2 hours or the following day. We perform postmortem examinations on dayshift, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including weekends and holidays.”
On the question of who notifies families?
“There is no statutory requirement that any one entity is responsible for next of kin notification. With that said, it benefits our office if we ensure that occurs. Our staff is required to coordinate next of kin notification, ensuring that it is completed in a reasonable manner. That coordination could include assistance from other agencies if family lives outside Jefferson County or other entities who are in a better position than us to acquire family contact information. That could include family friends, coworkers, church staff, etc. The key is that regardless of the resources employed, we ensure that it is carried out.”
Because of these questions, Yates said he will update the information on their website to better explain the typical process of how they do their job.
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