The Blog

2021-

2021-04-26 b
LADIES & GENTLEMEN, IT'S TIME FOR, "GUESS THE RACE"
In this week's episode, guess the race of the guy who charged police with 2 butcher knives and was neutralized.
FROM DARK HUMOR PRODUCTIONS, EXCLUSIVELY ON THE COLOR-OF-CRIME CABLE NETWORK

Nashville police release bodycam video of officer shooting man with 2 butcher knives during traffic stop

'I don't want to shoot you,' officer yells as man with two butcher knives runs toward him

Nashville police released body camera footage Saturday showing an officer fatally shoot a man who charged at him with two butcher knives during a traffic stop about a potentially stolen vehicle.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake said it appeared Officer Christopher Royer was "possibly justified" in shooting the knife-wielding man. He said the officer was left with "no choice" but to shoot after he retreated and asked the individual to drop the weapons several times -- even as the man entered the driver's door of the police car and charged toward the officer.

"No officer wants to encounter these types of situations. It's always the unknown when we respond to calls and he did everything he could. He retreated. He ordered him to put the knives down," Drake said. "This appears to be possibly justified. We'll find out once the investigation moves forward but officers are put in these situations, and it's unfortunate."

Drake also rejected the notion Royer should have used a Taser to deescalate the situation, telling reporters an officer "can't use a less lethal [force] if someone is attacking you with a knife."

Officer Royer was on "routine patrol" just before midnight in the area of Clarksville Pike and Ed Temple Blvd. when he checked the license plate of a white late model Mercedes sedan, police spokesman Don Aaron said at a press conference on Saturday.

The license plate on that Mercedes came back registered to a 1998 green Chevrolet and Officer Royer conducted a vehicle stop to investigate the license plate issue, he said. The driver of the Mercedes saw Officer Royer’s blue lights and stopped at 3236 Clarksville Pike.

"The driver presented no issues at any time," Aaron said at the press conference. "The passenger, however, immediately got out of the Mercedes with two large butcher knives, one in each hand, and began running around erratically."

"Officer Royer repeatedly yelled for the man to drop the knives – even as he momentarily entered the driver's door of Officer Royer’s police car," Aaron said. "The driver of the Mercedes also repeatedly yelled at the passenger 'What are you doing?’ and 'Stop'. Ultimately the passenger charged Officer Royer with the knives as Officer Royer back peddled some 25 yards from his police car."

Body camera footage released by the department Saturday showed the officer get out of the police car and yell "Hey, hands in the air" and "drop the knife." As the officer backs up, the man opens the driver’s door of the police car and the officer yells, "Get out of the car, drop the knife. Drop the knife."

"I don’t want to shoot you. I don’t want to shoot you," the officer is heard yelling, as the man runs toward him. Three shots can be heard in the video, and the officer radios that shots were fired.

"Stay over there," the officer yells to the driver who by then had gotten out of the Mercedes.

"What are you doing man?" the officer says. "I did not want to have to do that."

The man died shortly after arriving at Vanderbilt Medical Center, Aaron said. He has not been publicly identified by authorities. Royer is a four-year veteran of the Nashville Police Department, and, per policy, was placed on administrative assignment as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Davidson County District Attorney’s Office investigate and analyze this incident, Aaron said.

"Our police department will also be conducting an administrative review of this action to ensure it meets the high standards that is expected of our officers," he added.

"When I got the call this morning, I had mixed emotions especially with all that’s going on around the nation and this city," Nashville Chief of Police John Drake said. The shooting happened just days after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was [wrongly] convicted of the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd last May. (read more)

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