Rochester police release bodycam video of Friday fatal traffic stop shooting
A 20-year-old man was fatally shot during a traffic stop in upstate New York early Friday morning
A 20-year-old man was fatally shot during a traffic stop in upstate New York early Friday morning.
Video footage of the incident captured on a Rochester police officer’s bodycam has been released.
As reported by NBC News, officers from the Rochester Police Department (RPD) were responding to a call of gunfire being heard at 4:21 a.m. According to police captain Mark Mura, officers saw a vehicle “seen on camera leaving the area where the shots were fired,” near the 500 block of Lyell Avenue.
After officers caught up with the car, bodycam footage shows that they approached the vehicle and began questioning the passengers about the nearby shooting. A man in the passenger seat told the officer, with the door open, “We just trying to get to the hospital.”
As reported by Rochester First, a woman was seen standing on the sidewalk, stating she was feeling sick. When the officer asked if they needed to get one of the passengers, a female, an ambulance, the man on the passenger side stated that she was in pain and they were headed to the hospital.
READ MORE: Police leaders pressed Rochester to keep Prude video secret
The officers then asked to open the backseat on the passenger side to speak with a male passenger, but the door was locked. As they went to reopen the front seat passenger door, the officers cried out that they saw a gun. As the officers go for cover, shots ran out.
One of the male passengers was hit and later died from a gunshot wound. The video footage shows one of the men in the car
According to Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan, a total of nine shots were fired, but it was not clear if the victim had fired a weapon. The identity of the victim has yet to be disclosed, other than he was 20-years-old.
Herriott-Sullivan also stated that the two officers on the scene have been put on administrative leave. An investigation into the shooting will be conducted by the New York attorney’s general office.
READ MORE: Rochester mayor suspends officer seen pepper spraying 9-year-old
The RPD has been under scrutiny for several incidents of alleged excessive force over the past year.
The incident has been less than three months since body camera footage showed an RPD officer tackling a woman to the ground. As previously reported by theGrio, the woman was approached by an officer after a store clerk accused her of shoplifting was later tackled to the ground and pepper-spray while with her small child.
Back in January, theGrio reported that the RPD had pepper-sprayed a nine-year-old following a domestic call. Deputy Police Chief Andre Anderson described the girl as suicidal, and officers sprayed her with a chemical “irritant” while attempting to put her in the back of a patrol car as she tried pulling away. Body camera footage also showed the incident as well.
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