Unarmed African Man Shot Multiple Times by Omaha Police: Witnesses Say Sessou Wasn't Driving At Officer

The man shot by an off-duty Omaha police officer has been released from the hospital and arrested. Koko Sessou allegedly accelerated his car toward Officer David Brumagen. Authorities said Brumagen fired into the driver-side window. Brumagen is a 12-year veteran of the Omaha Police Department. Authorities said that on Saturday night Brumagen was working as a security guard while he was off duty for Eli's Bar and Grill in Rockbrook Village. The bar owner said that a group of men were in their cars harassing women when Brumagen and another off-duty officer confronted the men. Brumagen is on leave pending an internal investigation. Sessou was booked Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree felony assault on a police officer and first-degree felony assault. Sessou's attorney, James Martin Davis, disputes the police account of the story. He said the evidence shows that the second shot was fired from behind Sessou, and that his client never set out to run over the officer. Davis said the officer can not claim self-defense. "The angle of the bullets show he was hit on the side, and it went through his back," Davis said. "The passenger window on the driver side was shattered. That's physical evidence that the officer was not in front of that vehicle." Davis gathered some witnesses of the incident during an evening news conference. The witnesses backed Sessou's version of the story."I was right there," said witness Kristina Allee. "I seen everything."Allee said she was sitting in her car in front of Eli's Bar and Grill in Rockbrook Village at about 1 a.m. Saturday. Sessou and two friends were accused of harassing women outside the bar, and ordered to leave by an off-duty officer working as a security guard. The two friends left, and Sessou drove off, but apparently hit a dead end. "When we went to that dead end, I heard the officer say, 'Oh, my God. He's coming back. He's coming back,'" Allee said. Allee said Sessou was trying to leave, but police and several other witnesses said that Sessou was swerving towards the off-duty officer. Allee said everyone was out of the way and the vehicle had passed them when a female officer started swearing and yelling, "Shoot him, shoot him.""That's when the male officer took out his gun and shot seven, eight times at the vehicle," Allee said. Allee doesn't know Sessou, nor does witness Dominique Brown. Brown said she stopped to help Sessou after the shooting."I stepped back from the car and looked around and the cops weren't doing nothing. It was like they wanted him to die, and I was screaming, 'Help me. Help me,'" Brown said. Sessou is a political refugee from Togo. Davis said he works two jobs and goes to school.[MORE]