Oklahoma police released images showing two Tulsa cops being shot during a traffic stop in June, leaving one dead and the other seriously injured. District Judge William Musseman ordered that the edited board and body camera videos be made public on Thursday and revealed the records Monday morning, Tulsa World reported.
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Nearly 16-minute images show suspect David Anthony Ware being arrested early on June 29 for not giving way, making an illegal turn to the left and operating a vehicle with expired labels.
Warning: very graphic video released from the shooting of two Tulsa officers in a traffic stop. One of them died. This is what they face on a daily basis. Tasers & pepper spray often don’t work. Remember this scene when you are quick to condemn officers in escalating situations pic.twitter.com/pYjPH9CCtq — Jessica (Fletcher) O’Donnell (@heckyessica)
September 15, 2020
The encounter intensifies several minutes later, with Officer Aurash Zarkeshan ordering Ware out of the car because he will be towed and asked, “Are you going to get out of the car or am I going to bother you?” Video from the dashboard camera shows Zarkeshan and the sergeant. Craig Johnson fought Ware after getting him out of the car, and Ware opened fire on both of them, killing Johnson and injuring Zarkeshan.The video shows Ware shooting Johnson, who falls to the pavement and then fires another shot at the sergeant from a distance.
Johnson died on June 30 after life support was taken away. Ware’s attorney, Kevin Adams, lobbied for the publication of the videos, saying that an affidavit of probable cause incorrectly described Ware as standing on Johnson as he fired three more times. On Monday, Adams said the videos show that the shooting “was not a cold, calculated action on behalf of Ware as if they had been trying to portray him.”
