Twenty-two-year-old Glenwood Earl Pyshera was at a friend's twenty-first birthday. After a few bars, he headed to his friend's flat to carry on. He got the wrong door. He tried to get in, and the homeowner called the police.

When officer Sean Ferrell arrived, Pyshera was sitting on the back porch. Ferrell ordered him to show his hands and lie down. According to the prosecution, Pyshera raised his hands and walked towards him - from about six metres away. The officer fired twice into his chest.

All of it was recorded on the officer's body camera. There is no second version of events; there is footage.

The version that did not hold

Ferrell later told another officer that "the guy attacked him, was shouting and would not lie down". The camera footage shows the opposite. The prosecution is categorical: "This was not a lawful use of deadly force." The officer also had non-lethal options, including a taser, which he did not use.

Ferrell turned himself in on Tuesday. Bail was set at 75,000 dollars, with the next hearing on 10 September. He is charged with murder.

The camera as the only witness

It is worth dwelling on one detail. Without the footage, this would have been one word against nothing - an officer claiming he was attacked, against a young man who cannot speak. Cases exactly like this ended without charges for decades, because there was nobody to contest the official version.

Body cameras did not abolish the use of deadly force. But they did abolish the possibility of it going uncontested. That is the difference between a murder charge and a report nobody will ever read.

Pyshera's parents described their son as "very caring and full of love". He was due to go back to college in the coming days.