'I Want You To Shoot Him': Judge Caught On Body Cam Video Telling Officer To Shoot Suspect
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FOREST HILLS (KDKA) -- Video posted on Facebook is being investigated by Allegheny County Court administrators.
It shows a local magistrate allegedly telling a Forest Hills Police officer to shoot someone. That is what is said in the video.
The Forest Hills officer was wearing his body camera when he was speaking with Magistrate Thomas Caulfield about a man who had appeared in his court and continued to be a nuisance.
The officer asked what the district justice wanted him to do, his response was "shoot him."
Officer: "I want to see how you want to proceed in this event in the future."
Caulfield: "I want you to shoot him."
Officer: "Hey, in my world, if you are in a private residence, it's easy, you'll convey that he's to leave. He's not welcome here, he's not here on business. And then we actually communicate it. That usually doesn't happen, but it usually starts to move in that defiant thing, the defiant section of criminal trespass. That's how I perceive it when it starts to become like this foolishness. I don't know how you think of it here."
Caulfield: "Shoot him."
Watch the body cam video:
In a statement released by Judge Caulfield on Wednesday afternoon, he says: "I apologize for making the statements in the video. I would like to acknowledge that the statements I made in the video were inappropriate. It was certainly not my intention for these statements to be taken seriously and I deeply regret any harm that this has caused."
A suspect was able to gain access to the officer's body cam video through the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office as part of his disclosure in his criminal case.