By Police1 Staff
PINEVILLE, La. — Police have released dash cam footage capturing the shooting of a suspect charging officers with a knife following the end of a criminal trial.
According to KALB 5, Pineville police were searching for Carter Rhodes, Jr. in April 2012 on a protective custody order filed by his father and sister.
When officers found Rhodes near an overpass, he charged at them with a knife and was shot once in the pelvis by Officer Spencer Brister.
Rhodes was placed in handcuffs and transported to the hospital. He survived the shooting.
Following the shooting, Rhodes was charged with attempted first degree murder of a police officer, but the charge was later reduced to resisting arrest with force or violence.
Rhodes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but a psychologist later testified that Rhodes displayed no evidence of mental illness.
His family had originally requested the hold because they believed Rhodes had exhibited paranoid behavior.
Rhodes was found not guilty by a judge June 11. The judge argued that Rhodes was seeking suicide by cop. Rhodes had told police he “wanted to force a police officer to shoot him” during his arrest, according to the report.
“We at the Pineville Police Department were disappointed in the ruling handed down recently in the Carter Rhodes criminal trial. Although the Judge did not find in favor of a conviction, in her decision, she acknowledges the dangerous situation the officer was placed in and does not question his actions. The video evidence confirms the threat our officer faced,” Pineville Police said in a statement.
A civil suit by Rhodes’ family is pending in court.