Baltimore Police Release Body Camera Footage Of Shooting That Killed Odenton Teen
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Baltimore Police Department on Friday released body-camera footage of a police shooting over the weekend that killed an 18-year-old from Anne Arundel County.
The release includes 45 minutes of video showing the perspectives of four officers involved in the Feb. 19 shooting death of Donnell Rochester of Odenton, who was shot while driving away from police in Northeast Baltimore.
All four officers involved in the shooting are on administrative leave.
The incident unfolded shortly before 4 p.m. that day when two officers working a crime suppression detail in the area ran the plate of a white Honda. They found it was registered to Rochester, who had an open warrant for failure to appear in a carjacking case, Deputy Police Commissioner Brian Nadeau said.
Nadeau said the officers, Connor Murray and Antoine Galloway, radioed for backup and began following the Honda, which drove away once police activated their lights and siren to pull the vehicle over. He said officers later spotted the Honda parked in the 1800 block of Chilton Street and saw Rochester exit the car.
The footage shows several officers running toward the Honda as it starts to drive away, accelerating toward one of the officers, who can be heard shouting, "Stop it! Stop the car now!" before gunshots ring out.
Contrary to remarks made the day of the shooting by Police Commissioner Michael Harrison, it is unclear based on the video whether the vehicle strikes Officer Murray, who can be seen falling to the ground as the car drives past.
"At this time on a video, we cannot tell whether or not Officer Murray was struck by the vehicle," Nadeau told reporters Friday. "That is certainly under investigation."
Footage gleaned from three other officers' body cameras shows Murray and Officer Robert Mauri opening fire at the Honda before it crashes into a car parked nearby and Rochester gets out. Officers then order him to get on the ground.
"Help me," Rochester can be heard saying as officers restrain him with handcuffs. To which an officer replies: "Put your [expletive] hands behind your back."
From there, the footage shows officers offering first aid and calling for paramedics as they try to figure out where Rochester was shot.
"I can't breathe," the 18-year-old can be heard saying.
The officers are then heard saying that Rochester almost ran over one of them while Murray appears to apply a tourniquet to Rochester's wound.
"Me. He ran over me," Murray says. "I think he hit my leg, I'm not sure."
Harrison said the weapon used and the rounds fired during the encounter came from the first officer. He said the officers--Murray, Galloway, Mauri and Joshua Lutz--have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation's outcome.
Asked about his comment the day of the shooting that Murray was struck, Harrison said he based his statements on what he thought he saw in the footage.
"We knew for a fact that the vehicle did advance forward and the officer was right there in front of it. We saw him fall to the side," Harrison said. "When I addressed the media that night, it was based on what we had seen that night because we had not yet interviewed the officer."
Rochester's death remains under investigation by the Maryland Attorney General's Office's Independent Investigations Division, a special unit formed in response to recent reforms, which investigates all deaths at the hands of police.
Below is a condensed version of the footage released by the Baltimore Police Department. It contains graphic violence, so viewer discretion is advised.