By Police1 Staff
SPARTA, Tenn. — A Tennessee sheriff is at the center of a federal lawsuit after body cam video captured comments he made following a fatal officer-involved shooting.
WTVF-TV reports that last April, Smithville police attempted to pull over Michael Dial for driving on a suspended license. Dial then led police on a slow-speed pursuit.
“We might have got up to 50 (mph) at one point. For the most part it was 30 to 40 miles per hour,” Dekalb County Detective Jimmy Martin told an investigator at the time.
Dekalb County deputies backed off at the county line, leading to White County police, including Reserve Deputy Adam West, to get involved. Sheriff Oddie Shoupe, who wasn’t involved in the pursuit, gave orders to the radio dispatcher authorizing deputies to shoot the suspect.
After deputies pushed Dial off the road, West and another officer opened fire, killing Dial. Following the shooting, Shoupe can be heard making comments that were recorded by a deputy’s body cam, which Shoupe didn’t know was still on.
“They said ‘we’re ramming him.’ I said, ‘Don’t ram him, shoot him.’ Fu** that sh**. Ain’t gonna tear up my cars,” Shoupe said. “If they don’t think I’ll give the da** order to kill that motherfu** they’re full of sh**. (Laughter) Take him out. I’m here on the da** wrong end of the county.”
“I love this sh**. God I tell you what, I thrive on it,” Shoupe said.
The suit alleges that Shoupe “preferred to shoot and kill Mr. Dial rather than risk damaging his patrol cars.”
Attorney David Weissman said the deputies had no reason to shoot Dial.
“I don’t know how you can thrive on taking a human life. That’s not law enforcement,” Weissman said.
In June, District Attorney Bryant Dunaway found the shooting justified, according to the Herald-Citizen. The investigation found that Dial was “was a dangerous and unstable subject who posed a serious and immediate risk of serious bodily injury or death to both law enforcement officers as well as other citizens in the immediate area.”
A toxicology report revealed that Dial’s blood tested positive for several drugs, including methamphetamine.
Dunaway said he stands by his ruling, but he also added that he never heard the sheriff’s comments when he made the ruling.
Shoupe declined to comment.