By Matt Sledge
The Advocate
NEW ORLEANS — Officials on Wednesday released footage from two encounters last year in which police officers shot and killed suspects, the first time the New Orleans Police Department has released material captured by the body-worn cameras first deployed in 2014.
The videos depict the fatal shootings of Omarr Jackson, 37, in Central City in January and Jared Johnson, 22, in New Orleans East in April. The officers involved in both shootings have been cleared to return to active duty, and the District Attorney’s Office has said it will not pursue charges in both cases.
Police Superintendent Michael Harrison acknowledged that officers’ use of force has been an explosive issue throughout the country over the past few years. He said the release of the videos was “a very deliberate attempt to be transparent and to be accountable.”
“These videos eliminate he said-she said arguments,” Harrison said. “This is cutting-edge policy.”
The officers’ fatal encounter with Jackson began about 11 p.m. near the corner of Josephine and LaSalle streets on January 7, 2015. The video shows Officers Michael Bencik and Devin Ashmore as they stop a truck driven by Jackson, whom police called a drug dealer known to the officers.
Bencik first runs the identification cards of the vehicle’s three occupants. Police said that as Bencik returned to the vehicle, he spotted one of the vehicle’s occupants with a needle in his hand.
The officers ordered Jackson out of the vehicle, police said. In the vide, Jackson then bolts fromt he scene. A single round of gunfire, which police said was shot by Jackson, is returned by four shots, which police said were fired by Bencik. Jackson was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Asked whether the shooting was justified, Harrison said, “You saw it for yourself. Yes.”
In the second incident, police were alerted by a burglar alarm company to a break-in in progress at a Dollar General on 10600 Chef Menteur Highway on April 28, 2015.
Police said surveillance video from inside the store, which they released along with the body-worn camera footage, shows Johnson and Spencer Banks, 24, forcing female employees inside just after closing time to open the safe.
Officers surrounded the building. Video from Officer Thompson’s camera shows him edging around the building’s rear. Suddenly, a figure exits the store. Police said a silver glint that appears in a split-second of the video shows Johnson turning a gun toward him.
Both Thompson and Officer Joshua Carthon responded with approximately 12 shots between them, according to Sgt. Regina Williams of the NOPD’s Force Investigation Team.
Johnson did not fire his weapon, and neither officer can be heard issuing commands to him to drop the gun. Public Integrity Bureau Deputy Chief Arlinda Westbrook said she was satisfied that both officers were justified in shooting Johnson.
“You don’t wait to get shot before you shoot. When a subject points a gun toward you, you have the ability to use force,” Westbrook said. “They have a split second to make decisions.”
The New Orleans Advocate filed a records request for both videos in November. Since then, however, the release of the videos has been slowed by a federal judge’s mandate to the Police Department to create a uniform policy for the release of such footage.
U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan, the judge overseeing the department’s sweeping 2012 reform agreement with the federal government, expressed concern about the lack of a set policy on the release of body-worn camera videos from what the Police Department calls “critical incidents” – fatal shootings and other high-profile incidents.
In February, the Police Department announced that it had finalized a policy for the release of those videos. Under that policy, police will first consult with the District Attorney’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office and the NOPD’s Compliance Bureau before releasing videos.
Westbrook said that despite that process, both the families of the men shot and the officers involved had expressed concern about the release of the videos. Jackson’s mother in particular, she said, was upset that the video would be released.
“Everyone has concerns about the release of the videos,” Westbrook said. “These are not positive experiences for either side.”
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