Alpharetta incident in which young man took own life detailed

The incident happened last week in Alpharetta.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta Police and a family friend detailed the deeply tragic circumstances behind a young man taking his own life after a traffic stop last week, in an incident that the family friend described as a "product of our time."

Kendrick McWilliams Sr., the family friend who is also an attorney, stressed Thursday that Alpharetta Police "did absolutely nothing wrong in that situation" and said the family of 22-year-old Dante Parara, was grateful for how the department had handled the situation.

He described the decision - which involved the young man driving away and briefly dragging the officer along with his car - as a frightened one, and he believes "our current national environment with regard to police had something to do with how he was processing information that day."

Compounding the heartrending circumstances, the young man's brother witnessed the entire incident, including when he took his life, over a FaceTime call.

McWilliams said he'd known him for 13 years - since he was nine years old. He described him as gregarious and care-free, on his way to a birthday party and in good spirits when he was pulled over.

"One thing I know is that viewing that video and viewing everything else going on with him, that kid was scared," the attorney said. "He was scared."

Alpharetta Police released bodycam and dashcam video of the traffic stop on Thursday. Those can be viewed here (please note that the video is neither violent nor graphic, but does show the final moments of a young person's life).

The officer was not seriously injured in the dragging, and will make a full recovery. Alpharetta Police Chief John Robison called the entire incident an "absolute tragedy."

The police video shows the traffic stop being initiated on GA-400, with the young man exiting onto Mansell Road.

In initial conversation, the officer indicates he pulled the car over for having tinted windows that were too dark.

As the officer checks the window tint level with a small device, the young man can be heard talking to his brother on the phone, then explaining the FaceTime call to the officer.

"It's the Black Lives Matter, my parents say any time you get pulled over with all the police shootings, stay on the phone," he says.

"Ah that's okay, everything's being recorded man, no big deal," the officer responds.

The officer then tells him the tint level is too dark, and says he's reluctant to write him a ticket, but the interaction appears to escalate to an uncomfortable level for the young man when the officer says he smells marijuana in the car.

It was at this point that McWilliams, the family friend and attorney, said he felt he could tell the young man's demeanor had changed, that it was when "I saw fear in the kid."

"It wasn't the actions of somebody who was calm," he said.

"I don't know man, I don't necessarily like to write window tickets, but like I said - you never been stopped for it before, you didn't know about that?" the officer asks in the video. Then, he asks, "You got any marijuana in the car with you? You sure? Have you had some in here at some point? Cause I can smell something."

What the young man says in response is muffled and not entirely discernible in the video, but he does clearly say at one point "there's no marijuana in the car."

Pressed, he again says "no marijuana in the car."

"Never?" the officer asks.

To that, he answers that there has been marijuana in the car before in the past, but that "no, nothing" recently, he indicates.

"Cause the odor of marijuana is pretty hard to get rid of, in a vehicle especially," the officer says.

At that point, the officers asks him to "hop out for me real quick."

He asks if he can call his lawyer - McWilliams said at the press conference Thursday he was in fact referring to him, and would call him whenever he needed some help.

"No sir you can hop out the car for me," the officer says. "Can you hop out the car for me?"

At that point, the young man rolls his window up a little and asks again, "So I can't call my lawyer?"

"Sir, I'm asking you to step out of the car," the officer responds,

At that point he grabs the window, and the young man begins to drive off, dragging the officer with him a short ways before the officer breaks away and falls into the road.

RELATED: Alpharetta Police say suspect dragged officer with car during traffic stop

Some time after that, police say is when the young man took his life.

"I don't know why he did what he did. We will never know, but it resulted unfortunately in his death and I think we all need to take a close look and figure out what we all need to do to make that environment better," McWilliams said. "So that we don't have our (young men) sitting there on a simple traffic stop feeling like everything that's happening to them is life or death."

Robison, the police chief, praised the family's resilience and said he "can't begin to imagine the pain this wonderful family is enduring," asking the community "to pray for them as they endure this devastating loss."

He added the family had agreed to the release of the videos. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has handled interviews with the family and the broader investigation generally, the chief said.

Sgt. Howard Miller, the department's public information officer, said the department wanted to "show our transparency" and "build on public trust" with its handling of the incident.

Saying that we need to get to a point in society where we can "have some confidence in a simple police stop," McWilliams said his young family friend "was terrified and he made an error in judgment that just seemed to snowball."

"I'm just calling everybody in this room, everybody listening to these comments, to think about what you're doing and do better," the attorney said. "I think that's all we can ask anyone to do."

In a statement, family said they were devastated by the sudden loss of Parara. You can read it below: 

Our son recently gained his angel wings and we are all devastated by this sudden loss. 

Dante Parara was an amazing son, brother and friend, who single-handedly touched the lives of everyone around him. Dante was the ultimate unifier. He brought people together from all different walks of life and just had this aura and smile that was so genuine and just made everyone around him happy.  He was a protector and a nurturer which is why he was adored by his younger brother.

Dante was a kind, loving, special young man with a mind of his own, but that is what made him so very special to us. He was smart, funny, strong willed, and had a strong love for his family and friends. He was a Student-Athlete who graduated from Alpharetta High School and attended College in STATESBORO. He played both Football and Basketball at Varsity level and his #24 Shirt has been retired by his former team.

As a boy, Dante, was the type of child that you could leave in a room of kids and on your return, they would each tell you individually that Dante was their best friend. You see he was warm, genuine and loyal. Qualities not owned by many.

When he became a teenager he would watch significant events on TV and say one day he was going to change the world. This is why we are committed to establishing a Foundation in his honor to continue his legacy and help prevent similar tragedies befalling young people.

Dante leaves a loving family and great friends here to live with his memories and to celebrate his life.

Photos: Dante Parara