A South Carolina police officer who shot and killed an unarmed white teenager in a Hardee's parking lot will not face state charges, the prosecutor handling the case announced Tuesday.

Zachary Hammond, 19, died July 26 after being shot by Seneca Police Department Lt. Mark Tiller. Police intended to arrest a woman accompanying Hammond for dealing marijuana.

After Hammond was shot, police arrested Tori Morton, 23, and charged her with possession of 10 grams of marijuana. Morton said she and Hammond were on a first date.

In some respects similar to the death of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes who died after being placed in a chokehold, there is footage of Hammond's final moments.

A dashcam video released Tuesday by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division confirms the results of an independent autopsy commissioned by Hammond's family, showing Tiller shoot Hammond through a side window of the car he was driving.



Tiller and his police department had said he feared he was about to be run over by the car.

Though the video clearly shows Hammond reverse and then drive forward after Tiller approaches with his gun drawn and shouting "Hands up!" it does not appear to show Tiller in the direct path of the car.

As the car accelerates forward, Tiller is seen pushing off the vehicle, and shooting Hammond through the driver's-side window at near point-blank range.

Hammond's family attorneys have courted national media attention, claiming his death would have evoked more outrage had the teen been black, rather than white.

Eric Bland, who is representing Hammond's parents, says "obviously the family is extremely disappointed."

"When you see the video, it's very troubling[ and] it's clear Zachary wasn't attempting to run over Lt. Tiller," Bland says.



But Bland, who is representing the family in a civil lawsuit, isn't sure if there will be mass public outrage as was seen in large protests across the country following a grand jury's December decision to not indict an officer who choked Garner.

"One of the things I've talked about is if the victim had been a different color, there would be more public outcry," he says.

"To me, all lives matter, whether it's black, Asian, Jewish … we shouldn't judge a shooting by the race of the victim involved or the race of the officer. We should judge it by, is this the type of society we live in, where an officer can use deadly force on an unarmed kid who was fleeing a traffic stop?"

Tenth Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams' decision was made after "careful consideration of the facts" and "an extensive review of all applicable law," her office said in a statement.



Bland, who called for the prosecutor to be removed from the case while it was under investigation, says he met with Adams on Tuesday and was told officers recovered $60 worth of cocaine from Hammond's car after he was shot and that Tiller's foot may have at one point been under the car.

Bland says the family intends to press its case in its civil lawsuit. The family's legal team alleges the cocaine may have been planted by officers, based on a witness' claim his body was moved after one officer allegedly "high-fived" Hammond's dead hand.

A federal investigation into Hammond's death is ongoing. The brief statement from Adams' office says she "will not be releasing any additional information while the federal authorities are making their charging determination."



Though she declined to comment further, Adams offered a lengthy explanation of her thinking in a Monday letter to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which had supplied her with the results of its investigation of the shooting in late August.

The agency shared Adams’ letter with U.S. News.

“The video viewed at full speed, standing alone, is troublesome,” Adams wrote in the letter. “However, when the video and the totality of the investigation is evaluated and the laws of our State are applied, it is clear that Lt. Tiller broke no State laws. The evidence from this investigation corroborates and supports Lt. Tiller’s belief that he was going to be run over.”

In deciding against filing charges, Adams wrote that a reasonable officer may have found his or her life was in danger and that it was necessary to use deadly force.

Though Adams admitted Tiller had no knowledge of Hammond’s intentions at the time he fired, she wrote that analysis of his text messages revealed a disinclination to stop for police and that “Hammond’s intent not to stop for law enforcement is relevant” and his messages “indicate that Hammond had been on a dangerous and destructive course for a significant period of his life.”

Much of her letter, in fact, is dedicated to Hammond’s life outside of the incident, alleging he had dealt drugs and describing him as having the word “Outlaw” tattooed on his arm. Morton and Hammond had known each other before the day he died, the letter says.

Adams refuted the allegation that cocaine had been planted on Hammond's body by police, writing his corpse had tested positive for recent marijuana and cocaine use. And while a Seneca police officer told a colleague he high-fived the corpse, the letter says he probably did not and has since resigned from his job.

The traffic stop began, according to the letter, when Morton used Hammond’s phone to offer to sell someone marijuana and cocaine. She typed one number incorrectly, sending the message to a state trooper instead, the letter says.

The first of two bullets that Tiller fired into Hammond’s body, Adams wrote, entered the left side of his chest, fracturing ribs before lacerating his lungs and heart. A second bullet entered the rear of Hammond’s left shoulder.

Tiller’s attorney, John Mussetto, released a statement saying his client agreed with the prosecutor’s decision against charging him.

The Seneca Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Police Chief John Covington previously told U.S. News that intense scrutiny of police shootings had created a "biased atmosphere."

"In the proper time and the proper venue, all of the facts are going to come out," he said. "The other side can say pretty much what they want to and we can't rebut it at this time until the investigation is over."