By Missy Wilkinson
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans police on Monday released body-worn camera footage of a violent rush-hour encounter this month between officers and suspects in two stolen cars, one of whom rammed a civilian vehicle and a police officer in an attempt to evade arrest.
Three New Orleans police officers fired 11 rounds at Jaquan Dominick, 20, as he fled the Claiborne Bridge at Poland Avenue in a stolen Kia. Dominick sustained a bullet wound to his right shoulder, according to court documents. He allegedly ran down one officer as he approached the vehicle on foot, carrying him briefly on the Kia’s hood. That officer went to a hospital with minor injuries.
“This is a dangerous business,” superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Monday. "(Officers) go in every day, knowing the dangers that confront them. And it can happen in a moment.”
The city’s independent police monitor and the police department’s Force Investigation Team both were on the scene of the shooting. The latter’s administrative investigation into the use of force is ongoing, Kirkpatrick said.
“We have not made conclusions on anything as of yet,” she said.
NOPD officers had been searching for and then surveilling two vehicles stolen earlier in the day on Feb. 6 . When the Nissan Sentra and Kia Optima both stopped at a red light in “heavy afternoon congested traffic” at around 5:11 p.m. , officers went in for the bust, Kirkpatrick said.
Police bodycam and city crime camera footage, released Monday in accordance with reforms under a federal consent decree, show officers commanding Dominick to put his hands up and open the door.
While the Kia is stopped in traffic at a red light, five officers walk up as a marked police vehicle sits on the shoulder and three others block the intersection.
“They’ll jump. Be aware. Get on both sides,” an officer advises on the radio. “Don’t get in front of the car.”
“Puts your hands up! Open the door!” an officer yells.
Instead, the video shows the Kia ramming a vehicle and nearly missing one officer before it struck a second officer, who tumbles down an embankment. The Kia then veers off the road, past the police units blocking Claiborne Avenue at Poland Avenue , fleeing north down Poland .
Dominick was arrested Wednesday and held on two counts of attempted first-degree murder, along with 18 other counts ranging from armed robbery to simple assault. He will be held without bail until a Gwen’s Law hearing Tuesday.
Dominick’s arrest follows that of Destiny Jefferson , 19, Kendall Burrell , 19, and a 14-year-old boy. Police arrested all three at the scene in the stolen Nissan Sentra on suspicion of illegal possession of stolen things.
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