These days, you can’t log into your Facebook or open a newspaper without learning about the latest incident involving allegedly overzealous police officers attacking supposedly wrongly-accused members of the public. And now, more than ever before, these incidents are actually being caught on tape.
It’s gotten to the point where many police departments are requiring their officers to wear body cams in order to minimize the damage and protect themselves from negative press or litigation. In most cases, you can chalk up any unpleasantness between the police and the public to misunderstanding, but sometimes the blame can sit firmly on one party’s shoulders…
Routine Call
New Jersey officers were responding to what seemed to be a domestic disturbance call. It was a night call, or rather a very early morning call at just passed 2 am, and visibility was low, but nothing New Jersey’s finest weren’t used to.
Unrelated
The call happened to be completely unrelated to what would occur in just a few moments. A woman in her thirties or forties needed police assistance. The interaction was uneventful as one of the officers began asking the woman questions.
Something About A Man
The woman clearly had concerns about going to court, and that if the man in question happened to have more money than she did, then he would basically get what he wanted during the court proceedings. The officers listened but while they were talking, another incident was unfolding up the block.
A Commotion
Down the street a woman had supposedly been accosted by a man or a group of men. And her boyfriend or husband, a man named Michael Bates, saw that there were police around. He decided to approach them…
Video Part 1
An officer talks with a woman about an unrelated incident. Then suddenly a commotion can be heard from behind. Two other officers appeared to be in a potential confrontation with Michael Bates…
What’s Going On?
The bodycam footage comes from the officer who was talking with the woman. So the commotion was coming from behind him. In the video, you’ll notice the woman stops mid-sentence to look to her left at whatever is unfolding up the block.
Got His Attention
Whatever was going on, the bodycam officer’s attention was clearly pulled away. He appears to shout at his partner down the street in an attempt to ascertain the situation.
Heading Over
When shouting wasn’t enough the officer decided to leave his conversation with the woman and move to his partner. The camera begins to shake and offers a brief example of why this type of footage is questionable.
“A Gun?”
It’s difficult to see what the officer sees, but he clearly asks “Does he have a gun in his hand?” Given it is very early in the morning and quite dark, not to mention that whatever the officer is looking at cannot be seen in the video, it is too hard to tell if whatever is in the man’s hand is in fact a weapon…
Video Part 2
A series of loud noises can be heard. The camera goes black. Shouting is heard in the background and the officer asks if his partner is good. The officer moves up the street and begins to shout.
Radio Transmission
The officer can be heard saying, “We got a guy with a gun” into his radio. The woman behind him is not a concern of his as he moves away toward the situation…
Gunshots
The noises going off are presumably gunfire. It is difficult to say for sure since the camera is partially blocked. But it is not clear who fired them at this point in the video, if indeed they were gunshots.
“Are You Good?”
After the noises stop there is a brief moment of silence followed by the officer asking his partner, “You good?” There is some background noise, traffic and police radio sounds, as the officer moves around cars parked on the street.
More Shouting
Toward the end of the video the officer can be heard shouting something into the radio. A voice on the radio can also be heard saying, “I need all units…” but then it trails off. At this point in the video the viewer still has no evidence of of a shooting other than the noises, and no idea at all about who shot them…
Video Part 3
“Where’s the gun?” the officer asks a man on the ground who then says, “No gun.” Another asks, “What’d you just come at us with, man?” The man repeats, “No gun, officer.” The officer asks again, “Why in the f– would you come like that, dude?”
There Was No gun
It’s clear that there was no gun in site. The officers question the man in this clip because they cannot find one. Just to make sure, they ask the man multiple times.
“No Gun, Officer”
The man on the ground, Michael Bates, has been shot by one of the officers. He did not have a gun. If you listen closely to the clip, Bates tries to explain that something was going on with his girlfriend, and that’s why he approached the police.
An Officer’s Mindset
Civilians cannot know what’s it’s like to be a police officer, and especially not one in this type of situation. But from the video, it’s clear that at least one of these officers was ready to pull his service weapon and fire on a civilian who did not have a weapon.
Judgement
When the officer saw the man reaching for something he decided to pull his weapon and fire at him, several times. Nowhere in the second clip can an officer be heard telling a man to, “Drop the weapon!” It is not clear why the officer shot, but now that is up to the courts to figure out…
Video Part 4
Bates says, “I’m hit,” then a moment later tells the officers they did what they were supposed to do. Then a woman asks Bates, “Then where is the gun then?” She is angry the police fired and upset that Bates is saying it was warranted. After, Bates again says, “No gun.”
