The Associated Press
WOODBINE, Ga.- A sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a rifle-wielding motorist who led him on a high-speed chase, then pulled over and approached the officer with his gun drawn.
Authorities on Monday released a videotape of the Nov. 15 confrontation along Interstate 95. A sheriff’s department spokesman said Tuesday they released the tape to set the record straight and show the deputy had no choice but to shoot the man, Charles Lee Lamb Jr.
The deputy had been conducting a routine traffic stop when a motorist pulled over and said he saw a man in a red pickup truck pointing a rifle at other drivers, said Lt. William Terrell, of the Camden County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputy James Gregory Coffel caught up with the truck and pulled it over, Terrell said. Lamb, 47, of Orange Park, Fla., got out but refused to drop the .30-caliber rifle.
Lamb fired a shot, then got back into his truck and led the deputy on a high-speed chase.
Lamb then pulled over again, and the videotape from the dashboard camera shows him walking erratically toward the deputy’s car with the rifle pointing straight ahead. Lamb moves off camera, and a shot is heard. Terrell said Lamb refused again to drop the weapon, and the deputy shot and killed him.
Coffel, 27, remained on administrative leave Tuesday until an investigation is complete.