Martinsburg, Virginia – This week, the family of a Virginia man who was killed by police is filing for an appeal in their lawsuit against the city, which was railroaded out of court last year after the incident occurred.

In the aftermath of this case, it was discovered that police not only shot an innocent man 23 times while he was surrounded by a half dozen officers, but also that those officers attempted to plant evidence, tamper with the crime scene, make false statements and stage a massive cover up for a murder.

On March 13, 2013, Wayne A. Jones was walking down the street, directly next to the sidewalk, on the side of the road. He was approached by a police officer who began to interrogate him about how he was walking.

Jones responded by telling the officer that he was trying to “reach a distance.” Before he was able to explain what that meant, the officer began getting aggressive with him, and began to ask if he was carrying any weapons or drugs. Knowing that he had a pair of scissors in his pocket, Jones asked the officer, “what is a weapon?”

The officer told him in so many words that anything could be considered a weapon, so Jones admitted calmly, “I do have something on me then.” Again, without giving Jones the ability to even finish what he was saying, the officer got aggressive, this time grabbing him and attempting to subdue him.

Throughout the altercation Jones continued to ask “What did I do to you?” and “What do you want?” But since the two were no longer in view of the vehicle’s dashboard camera, it is hard to see exactly what is happening during that struggle. Next, you can hear the officer use his taser on Jones, at which point Jones begins to run down the street.

Next, multiple other police cars arrived on the scene, which later provided more dash-cam evidence to provide insight into what actually happened.

By the time other cars arrived on the scene, it seems as if Jones was laying on the ground with several police officers standing over him, yelling at him, punching and kicking him, and using tasers on him multiple times. With Jones on the ground, one of the officers shouted “drop his f***** ass, drop his ass!!”, and they opened fire on him, shooting him a total of 23 times.

After the shooting, police can be seen pacing around the body and tampering with the crime scene. Later, it was revealed that the police officers there tried to plant multiple knives on his body and claim that he “had a knife.” However, the officers did such a poor job at covering their tracks while planting the weapon that they could not even enter it as evidence in the case.

One of the officers even went so far as to say that he was stabbed, although it was later found that he was not stabbed, and no knife belonging to Jones was actually found or entered as evidence.

The cover-up didnt stop there, when the police finally released the dash-cam footage it was obviously tampered with, large segments of audio and video were missing from the footage, and the time-stamps did not even match up. Even with the edits, the dash-cam footage does provide a number of clues into what actually took place, including one admission from an officer who said “he wasn’t “f****** doing nothing – so we all shot him”

It is also important to point out the incredible lack of remorse exhibited by the officers in the videos. In one of the videos, after the killing, the officers can be heard casually talking about the weather and about how skoal chewing tobacco is a “man’s cigarette.”

The Martinsburg District Attorney called a Special Grand Jury to hear the evidence against the five officers involved, and as with most police murders, the Grand Jury did not indict the officers.

The family of Jones immediately filed a lawsuit against the city, but were railroaded out of court due to filing technicalities. Now the Jones family is filing for an appeal, and are hoping to raise the funds to get a decent lawyer so they can actually follow through with their case.

You can donate to the family’s legal fund at the following link. Help to get justice for the Jones family by donating and/or sharing this story with others.

h/t Virginia Cop Block

John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work he is also the owner of a successful music promotion company. In 2013, he became one of the organizers of the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled “Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance” at bookpatch.com.