Phoenix police release video of officer shooting noncompliant man holding river rock

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Police Department on Monday released body-worn camera footage of an officer shooting a man who was acting erratically while holding a river rock in his hand earlier this month.

The man, who hasn’t been identified, was still in the hospital being treated for his wounds, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman said Tuesday.

Police initially responded to several 911 calls about a man breaking apartment and business windows near the intersection of Bell Road and Seventh Street around 4:30 p.m. on May 9.

Footage included in a critical incident briefing video shows officers pursing the suspect on foot in a parking lot and repeatedly yelling at him to drop the rock, which he held in one hand. They tried to get close enough to use a Taser and then a beanbag gun, but the man kept his distance.

The officers followed him after he ran across Bell Road to another shopping center parking lot. When he moved toward the door of a Chili’s restaurant, an officer pointing his handgun yelled, “Do not go in there.” The officer fired three times as the man opened the door.

The glass door shattered and the man fell into the restaurant. He could be heard screaming after the shooting.

Three officers converged on him inside, and the man struggled while they restrained him and put him in handcuffs before performing first aid. Part of the video was blurred, but it appeared the man’s injuries were on his lower body.

Police said the incident is the subject of ongoing criminal and internal investigations that will be reviewed by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

A determination about whether the officer’s response was consistent with department policy and the law will be made after the investigation is completed.

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