Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The dangers officers face

Last week, I told you how dangerous the most routine call can be for police officers. Today, we’re releasing video of a fatal police shooting that started out as a seemingly mundane call about a non-injury car crash.

At about 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2009, police responded to a non-injury, one-vehicle car crash near 113th Street and Sycamore Terrace in south Kansas City. They found out the driver had walked away about 100 yards into nearby Isler Park. One officer drove into the park to contact the man, and as you will see in these videos from police car dash-cams, the man suddenly turned and started firing shots at the officer. The officer fell to the ground behind his patrol car door to avoid being hit. At that time, a second officer arrived and ran to assist the first officer, risking being shot himself. The officers soon returned fire on the suspect, who continued to point a gun at them even after he had been shot and fallen to the ground. The suspect died from the return shots from the officers. Miraculously, neither of the officers was injured.

On Nov. 20, a Jackson County Grand Jury cleared the officers of any wrong-doing in the suspect’s death. We were notified of this decision on Monday, Dec. 7.
I am releasing this video to show you the dangers KCPD officers face daily. We also are committed to being transparent. No officer ever wants to kill another human being, but as you can see in the video, sometimes they are left with no choice.

WARNING: This video contains disturbing images and is not suitable for children. There is audio in the second half of the video.