AURORA, Colo. — Aurora police have released bodycam video in the deadly shooting of an unarmed man who reportedly trespassed a private park-and-ride lot that serves Denver International Airport earlier this month.
The shooting happened on May 12, after police received a 911 call of a suspicious person trespassing at The Parking Spot, located at 19901 East 56th Avenue, shortly before 3 p.m.
The 911 caller reported that the suspect was not wearing any shoes but appeared to be under the influence of drugs. The caller also told dispatch the suspect was not injured, did not appeared to have weapons and was not acting in a threatening manner.
As the call did not appear to be urgent, 911 operators placed the report on a “pending” queue. But between 3:14 p.m. and 4:59 p.m., Aurora dispatch received additional calls from that area, where the caller stated the suspect was “trying to unlock people’s car doors.”
In an edited video in which Aurora police provided more context about the call and the actions of the officer that day, an official for the department said the suspect eventually became more aggressive toward employees and was trying to fight them.
Describing the situation as an “increasing threat to public safety,” the Aurora official said dispatchers upgraded the priority status of the call, and an officer was sent to the address to figure out what was going on.
The patrol officer, who was told the suspect was "loitering in the back area” toward a grassy field, encountered the man — identified during a Thursday news conference as 32-year-old Rashaud Terrelle Johnson — and tried to interact with him, but Johnson ignored the officer before charging at him.
“Almost immediately, officers notice the individual appears to have issues,” Aurora Chief of Police Todd Chamberlain said during a news conference Thursday. Johnson was “not listening to directions, not listening to requests," he said.
Bodycam video shows how the officer tried several ways to de-escalate the situation, despite Johnson charging at him.
The footage shows the officer using a baton and a Taser two times to try to subdue Johnson as he repeatedly tells him to back off. He also is seen warning him he’s going to shoot him if he doesn’t stop before the officer is tackled and knocked down to the ground. Chamberlain said Johnson was able to get a hold of the officer’s magazine from out of his belt.
Warning: The body camera footage in the video player below could be disturbing to some. Viewer discretion is advised.
Bodycam video then shows the officer wrestling with Johnson for nearly a minute as he tries to get him off him. He was the only officer at the scene, according to Chamberlain.
The chief said the officer ended up fatally shooting Johnson only after the officer was "backed into a corner" and all other de-escalation methods failed.
Chamberlain said during the news conference he wanted to be as transparent as possible with this investigation, calling it “a tragedy at all levels.”
Denver7 asked why it took so long for help to arrive.
Chamberlain said the jurisdiction is just too big and trespassing calls are normally ranked low-priority. He added they are looking at whether this incident could change how they respond to those calls in the future.
We also asked why those de-escalation methods failed to work.
Chamberlain said it appears the Taser did make contact with Johnson — but part of the ongoing investigation will determine why it wasn’t effective in slowing him down.
“I think the important part is that the absence of a weapon does not mean that there's an absence of danger, by any stretch of the imagination, and there's still a deadly threat, and that deadly threat continued to unfold in this event,” said Chamberlain. “Those three or four minutes of being involved in that physical confrontation, I'm sure to that officer must have felt like three or four years.”
The officer in question is still unnamed but Denver7 did learn he has been with the police force for four years.
It’s still unclear if Johnson was under the influence of any substances, something that is being looked at as part of the ongoing investigation, which is being handled by the 17th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team.
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