SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The man who called 911 about someone breaking into his truck the night Stephon Clark was killed is expressing regret.
“If I had known it was him across the street, I probably wouldn’t have called 911,” Dave Reiling told KTXL. “I would have just met him at his house, you know?”
Reiling’s call to 911 began the series of events that led to Clark being shot to death by two Sacramento police officers.
He says on March 18th, he saw someone break a window on his Ford Explorer. Reiling said it was dark and wasn’t sure who was there, but says in the daylight he would have recognized Clark.
“I never really knew him knew him. But I knew of him. He was a nice guy, he didn’t deserve that, even if he was breaking my windows out,” Reiling told FOX40.
Now, Reiling stands behind Clark’s family and thinks the national attention is actually a good thing.
“It needs to be national, it needs to be worldwide,” he said. “That way, people know what’s going on and put a stop to this police brutality and shootings for no reason.”
Both of Reiling’s trucks, which he says are his livelihood, are in police custody as evidence.
But as the story that started just outside his doorstep continues to highlight race relations nationwide, Reiling says he wants to remain out of the way and support a family in mourning.