THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. — The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage showing an incident where on- and off-duty law enforcement officers stepped in to aid a deputy after a suspect attacked her and tried to grab her gun.
The Oct. 15 incident began when a school resource officer came across a traffic collision and stopped to assist. Video shows the officer speaking with parties involved in the incident and establishing radio communications with dispatch.
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As she continues to manage the scene, she instructs the driver who caused the accident to have a seat. He ignored the instruction, instead getting in and out of his vehicle and pacing around the scene. The officer told the dispatcher that the man was ignoring her instructions.
Video then shows the man beginning to walk toward the other parties involved in the collision. The officer placed herself between the man and the other drivers, raising her TASER and instructing him to stop.
As the man continued walking toward her, she deployed the TASER. While the man ran away from the TASER and appeared to have a reaction when he was shocked, he did not stop his approach. He continued moving toward the officer, who backed away as she continued to deliver TASER stuns.
The man eventually caught up with the officer and grabbed her, starting a physical altercation. Dash cam footage shows the man reaching for the officer’s gun as they struggled.
Nisqually Tribal Police officers responded to the scene to assist, as well as an off-duty corrections officer. The Nisqually officer took the suspect and the SRO with him to the ground and fought to take him into custody.
“Drop it or I’ll f***ing kill you,” the Nisqually officer told the man.
“I’m already dead anyway, m*****f*****,” the suspect can be heard replying.
The off-duty corrections officer can be seen hitting the man in the head with his gun. The altercation ended when another responding deputy arrived on scene and successfully deployed a TASER to take the man into custody.
A bystander stepped in to subdue the man’s legs as they took him into custody.
“The deputy in this incident was beyond professional, and tried to gain verbal compliance while utilizing time, distance, and cover tactics,” Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders stated in the video release. “Despite those efforts, the suspect continued to attack, diminishing the argument that there are magic words which can be uttered to gain compliance from violent persons. Law enforcement cannot “de-escalate” those who refuse to cooperate.”
