Witness video shows Raleigh police officer shooting man fatally on I-440
A video taken by a witness shows the incident Tuesday in which Raleigh police tased and then fatally shot a man they say swung a knife at officers.
The incident unfolded after police responded to multiple 911 calls about an accident on the Raleigh Beltline Tuesday afternoon.
The Raleigh Police Department confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the man died from his gunshot wounds. Police have not released his name.
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson previously declined to state the man’s condition in a news conference after the shooting.
In a 23-second video posted to social media and obtained by The News & Observer, an officer is seen tasing the man as a crowd gathers on the Beltline near emergency vehicles and police cars. Patterson said the man had been walking with a small child and carrying a knife.
At the start of the video, the man is seen turning and walking away from officers when one officer raises his Taser at him from behind.
The man recording the video then yells at him in Spanish to sit down.
“¡Primo, siéntese! ¡Primo!” the man recording the video shouts, while the man continues to walk away from the police officer pointing the Taser at him. “Cousin, sit down! Cousin!”
Although “primo” is a literal Spanish translation of “cousin,” it is commonly used in Latin America as an informal and friendly way to call a friend, and does not necessarily indicate familial relation.
A woman is seen moving a child away from the scene, which Patterson confirmed occurred.
After the man falls to the ground, five officers surround him with two of them holding him down.
A few seconds later, the man appears to struggle to get up and is on his knees when two officers draw their weapons. The man is shot and falls over.
It is not clear how many times he was shot.
Patterson said Raleigh police shot him after “the individual swung the knife toward officers.”
The man stops moving while officers approach him.
“Oh, my God,” the man recording the video said, as another person screams in the background.
The video then stops.
Patterson did not know how many shots were fired but said police would count the rounds fired by officers on the scene.
At the press conference, Patterson said police were responding to a crash after 1:30 p.m. on Interstate 440, near Exit 12 at Brentwood Avenue.
She said 911 calls indicated a person was intoxicated, and when officers arrived, they were “alerted that an individual was armed with a knife.”
The police department’s internal affairs unit will investigate whether officers followed department policy.
“I want to wait until we have all the information before making any decisions or before making any statements concerning whether the shooting was justified or not justified,” Patterson said. “We just don’t have all that information at this time.”
Staff writer Julian Shen-Berro contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 8:10 PM.
