AMHERST CO. Va. (WFXR) — The family of Daniel “Scott” Meadows gathered this week to mourn his death in an officer-involved shooting.

A makeshift memorial sits at the corner of Sandidges Road and Route 60 where the 40-year-old was shot and killed by an Amherst County Sheriff’s deputy on June 1.

According to Virginia State Police, the deputy approached Meadows, who is said to have “pulled out a machete and confronted the deputy.”

“There’s nobody who can convince me that my brother was just standing out here on the side of the road like a maniac with a machete swinging it around,” said his sister Natasha McLean.

“He didn’t have a violent background,” added his mother, Kathyern Lee.

Court records in Meadows’ home states of Kansas and Virginia show no violent offenses.
There are a couple of vehicle registration and license violations as well as one fine for public intoxication.

The code of Virginia states that the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer can be used under the threat of serious injury or death.

Meadows’ family is questioning whether that was the case after speaking with VSP’s investigator.

“His blood was right where his truck was parked,” said McLean.

“How much distance was there between the cop or officer and Scott?” asked Lee. She wants to know if the deputy tried to put the truck between himself and Meadows or tried to distance himself before firing.

In a statement to WFXR News, Virginia State Police writes that there is no body camera footage available of the shooting and to contact the Sheriff’s Office for any further information.

WFXR emailed a major with the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office to ask for the department’s body camera policy; the major wrote “At this time, this case is still under investigation.” When asked again if deputies are required to wear body cameras, we did not receive a response. We also left a voicemail later in the afternoon.

T.J. Meadows trusts that State Police will investigate his nephew’s case thoroughly but says this goes further than that. He’d like to see body cameras become mandatory.

“If you shoot somebody, a civilian, and you do not have your body camera on, you’re trying to hide something. You broke the law. You need to go to prison. Legislation needs to be passed on that,” he said. “Legislation needs to be passed where they use alternative measures to subdue a subject.”

Meadows’ family is asking anyone with information that may help shed more light on the situation to contact VSP.