It began with a stray dog.



Robert Earl Lawrence said he found the dog wandering a Wal-Mart parking lot in Dothan in south Alabama. He put the canine in his car with his girlfriend and their three small children, each child under the age of 10. The family drove to the Dothan Animal Shelter.



There Lawrence was asked for his driver's license, he declined to show it. City employees said they couldn't accept a stray dog if he didn't show a license. He said they didn't have the right to require a license. He said he'd drop the dog elsewhere. They said he couldn't leave if he was going to dump the dog. He was stuck, grew agitated, walked outside.



A Dothan police officer stationed at the shelter followed him to his car and wouldn't let him leave without producing a license. A couple months earlier, according to his cousin, Lawrence had begun to read about sovereign citizens, an anti-government movement that often includes, among other things, complicated arguments against the constitutionality of driver's licenses. In short, Lawrence was ready to argue.



About eight minutes before he would be shot, Lawrence can be heard telling his girlfriend in the front seat to record on her cellphone: "This will be good," he said.



Eight minutes later Sgt. Adrianne Woodruff reached her arm through a melee, between the arms of two officers tugging at Lawrence, to press the barrel of her service weapon into in his gut and, without warning or utterance, pull the trigger.



No warning





The shooting took place Dec. 30, 2014. Despite public interest in the case, the dashcam video was not released to the public.



On July 25, a federal magistrate found grounds for proceeding with a lawsuit against the officer who fired the fatal shot. Attorneys representing Lawrence's family released the video this month.



The suit and the video shed light on internal shooting reviews in a state where police rarely release bodycam footage to the public.



In 2015, Dothan Police Department cleared their officer, Adrianne Woodruff, stating in reports that Lawrence had taken control of her Taser and was an armed threat. But U.S. Magistrate Judge David Baker disagreed late last month, saying Lawrence did not flee and whether he ever had control of her Taser is a matter for a jury to determine.



Lawrence was not armed. In a closeup video, Lawrence can be seen grabbing the Taser as it is being used like a cattle prod to shock him. He was being held from behind by another officer at the time of the shooting. A third officer was pulling on his arm.



"It is undisputed that Woodruff gave no warning before shooting Lawrence," wrote the magistrate last month, nearly three and a half years after shooting. The magistrate also reported that Woodruff admitted Lawrence did not threaten her physically nor verbally, but that his mannerisms and his "getting in her face" made her "uncomfortable."



The magistrate, in the recommendation to the federal judge, wrote that "a jury could conclude that Lawrence did not pose a serious threat of harm to the officers to warrant the use of deadly force by Woodruff."



Attorney Hank Sherrod, who represents Lawrence's family in the lawsuit, said Lawrence reached for the barrel of Taser to stop the pain. "The video makes clear she let go of the Taser to shoot him," said Sherrod. "This guy did not have to die."



Lenton White, attorney for Dothan and for Woodruff, told Al.com this week that the video shows a reasonable threat, as Lawrence grabbed for the Taser. "The law doesn't require a police officer to wait until his own weapon is used against him before he can use deadly force," said White.



PTSD



The suit details a police stop gone wrong, an incident leaving three children without a father and an officer unemployed and suffering from PTSD.



Chris Cantu was Lawrence's cousin. He temporarily took care of Lawrence's three young children. Two of them were in the car that day. The third child present was the son of Lawrence's girlfriend.



"They're still struggling with everything that happened," said Cantu. The video shows the older boy get out of the car to rush to his father after the shooting. The shot was fired a couple feet from the children. "They pretty much ask what happened," said Cantu. "Parts they don't recall. I'll try to explain to them that he was shot and that he didn't make it."



"He was a good guy. He worked hard, he did stand his ground when he believed in something," Cantu told Al.com. "It shouldn't have happened the way it happened."



Meanwhile, Woodruff last summer testified that the trauma from the shooting helped end her career. She retired in 2015.



"What caused your PTSD?" asked attorneys in the suit during a deposition. "The shooting," she said.



Woodruff had been stationed at the shelter for five years before the shooting. She testified that she has been on disability since leaving the force. She testified in a deposition last year that she began to have nightmares, became jumpy and would only sit somewhere with her back to a wall. She said for a couple months after the shooting she received threats, saying "people were talking about dragging me out on the street and setting me on fire or hanging me. That's disturbing."



She testified the shooting was justified, she was in danger and she would do the same thing again. She noted that she never received any criticism nor discipline from within the department.

Robert Earl Lawrence



Officer cleared



The story made local headlines in December of 2014 in the Dothan Eagle. "Man killed by Dothan cop had a violent past." The initial report focused on Lawrence's criminal history.



Lawrence had been arrested for making a terrorist threat in 2013. In the wake of a custody battle, Lawrence had asked officials with the Department of Human Resources, "What if I do like the Dale County man?" The comment referred an unrelated kidnapping and shooting in south Alabama. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassing communications in Montgomery County. Lawrence was sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $1,000.



In 2012, his wife filed a petition for protection from abuse, saying he threw her to the ground. He was also charged with domestic violence and harassment in 2008. That case was dismissed.



The Houston County district attorney in 2015 presented the shooting to a grand jury, which did not indict. State investigators also reviewed the shooting. After the grand jury, the district attorney declined to discuss the police review with the local paper. Officials did not release the video.



Sherrod, a civil rights attorney who often handles police misconduct cases in Alabama, said Dothan police would not release the video under a public records request. Sherrod and Dothan attorney Will Morris sued in federal court in late 2016 on behalf of Lawrence's cousin, Chris Cantu. They claimed excessive force.



The lawsuit caused police to share the video and internal documents.



"The suspect gained control of the Officers TASER and it can be heard actively sparking on the video indicating he was likely holding the trigger down," reads one summary of the police review board on Jan. 14, 2015, which states the shooting was within policy.





"Difficult, almost disorderly"



Evidence in the lawsuit includes other recordings, such as the girlfriend's cellphone video and the calls to dispatch. The original call from the shelter was to request help with a man "who is being difficult, almost disorderly." The ensuing argument between Woodruff and Lawrence runs long.



Woodruff called dispatch from outside and stayed on the phone. "He doesn't have to have a driver's license to drive in the state of Alabama," she told dispatch. "He doesn't have to do anything. He doesn't have to be detained."



Instead of a license, Lawrence gave her an affidavit of identity. The peculiar, notarized document starts with: "My name is Robert Lawrence of the Lawrence family." It included an address in Slocumb, his physical description, his birth date in 1984, a photo, a thumb print and his understanding that false information on this document could lead to imprisonment.



His identity checked out. No warrants. "He's 10-92, he's negative," said dispatch as Lawrence can be heard arguing in the background: "This is a violation of your oath. Did you not take an oath of office?"



Woodruff refused to return his affidavit. He waited on his paperwork. She waited on backup. And then things turned personal. She asked "You know how foolish you sound?" And then: "You're so smart you've got half the teeth in your mouth." She told him "You've got poor hygiene." Later she said: "I can see you're very wealthy man."



She called in his tag. It checked out. He tried to leave. "Ma'am I'm requesting my paperwork." She said, "I'm waiting for you to produce a driver's license." He again said: "I don't have to produce a driver's license."



At that point, once she checked his identity and his car tag, according to the federal magistrate there is a question as to whether Woodruff had legal grounds to continue to detain Lawrence.



In an objection to the magistrate's report, filed this week, the attorney for Woodruff argues the stop was legal, that Lawrence didn't show a license and appeared to be preparing to drive. But more importantly, White writes that the magistrate failed to see the threat through the eyes of an officer in a physical struggle who had lost control of a dangerous weapon.



"The Report sees the threat faced by Sgt. Woodruff from the comfort and safety of chambers, fearful of nothing more threatening than the occasional paper cut as the Magistrate views a cold record accounting of events," reads the objection filed Wednesday on behalf of Woodruff.



Backup arrives



When Officer Alan Rhodes pulled up, he immediately got Lawrence to stand back so he could confer with Wooddruff. "You got him doing more than I could get him to do," said Woodruff. But Lawrence wouldn't stand still and kept arguing. Rhodes decided to take him to jail. He grabbed Lawrence. "This is unlawful detainer," cried Lawrence, later yelling: "No. Stop. My children are in the car ... Ain't nothing happening. Ain't no crime been committed."



At one point, Lawrence wriggled free and raced around his car. Rhodes fired the Taser at Lawrence, but the darts hit his coat. Rhodes handed the weapon to Woodruff. Once the darts are deployed, a Taser can be used in what is called drive stun mode. That means the weapon can be pressed against a subject to cause pain, but no longer can incapacitate someone.



Rhodes got him again, grabbed his arms from behind. Woodruff began to drive stun Lawrence. A third officer, Renee Skipper, moved in and grabbed Lawrence's arm. Lawrence's girlfriend can be heard yelling, "Stop, stop!"



After the shot, as more police and paramedics arrived, an officer interviewed Rhodes. Rhodes said Woodruff told him Lawrence was a sovereign citizen. Lawrence can still be heard groaning on the ground: "Please take the handcuffs off, I don't want to die."



Sovereign citizens are listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as fiercely anti-government, and fast-growing in numbers, with complicated legal beliefs about common law and the individual's innate standing as free men.



As for tactics, the Southern Poverty Law Center writes: "The weapon of choice for sovereign citizens is paper. A simple traffic violation or pet-licensing case can end up provoking dozens of court filings containing hundreds of pages of pseudo-legal nonsense."

Just moments after the shooting, Rhodes says at first he wasn't sure who had fired. Dogs can be heard barking off camera. "I was just going to trip him and put him on the ground eventually until the other officers got here," he said.



Rhodes wrote in his official report: "I was keeping the suspect tied up and felt two or three electrical charges through my right side. The suspect stopped struggling for a few moments. I asked him if he were done. He said no and began fighting again. A short time later I heard a gunshot. I held the suspect until he stated she shot me."



But the Use of Deadly Force Report by Officer Renee Skipper states: "Suspect armed himself with officer's taser and tried to use it on officers. The incapacitation of the officer would have given the suspect opportunity to gain control of his firearm and escalate the situation to deadly force on the officers."





Deadly threat?



When pressed about the crime itself, Woodruff said Lawrence wouldn't show a license.



"Is that your understanding of the law?" asked Sherrod during a deposition in August of 2017. "Yes," she said. "That just anytime you want to make a citizen produce a driver's license you can?" he asked.



Woodruff testified that she was afraid of Lawrence. "I mean you were afraid to try and arrest him?" She answered: "Absolutely." So she waited on backup.



"He never threatened you by gestures?" asked Sherrod. "He threatened to sue me already early on," said Woodruff. "Okay, you're not claiming that he was subject to arrest because he threatened to sue you right?" "No of course not." "He never threatened your physical person, right? "Correct." Then a couple minutes later: "You were scared, right?" "Yes." And then: "But it's not a crime for a citizen to make you uncomfortable, right?" "No, but when they do, you take action."



"Did you shoot him because you were afraid there might be, he might have a gun?" asked Sherrod. "No," testified Woodruff.



"You were already in fear of your life because you believed he was a sovereign citizen?" asked Sherrod. "I felt there was a threat, a possible threat there."



Woodruff was insured at the time of the shooting. The lawsuit late Wednesday was reassigned to a recent Trump appointee, U.S.. District Judge Emily Marks.



As for excessive force, should the case reach trial, a jury would need to consider severity of the crime, threat to officers or others, and whether the suspect is resisting arrest or attempting to flee. In this case, both sides agree the underlying crime, if there was one, was minor. He did not flee. The key dispute is whether Lawrence was a threat, whether he tried to gained control of the Taser, whether he reflexively grabbed for the barrel to stop be shocked, whether she let go of the Taser to grab her gun, whether a Taser in drive stun mode is a dangerous enough weapon to justify deadly force.



Woodruff ultimately testified that she shot Lawrence because he was trying to use the Taser on Officer Rhodes, who was holding Lawrence. "I was afraid that Officer Rhodes would be incapacitated, which would leave me."