Police: Officers Who Shot Man At Clinic Showed Restraint
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City Police are revealing more about an officer-involved shooting in downtown Baltimore Thursday.
Body camera footage shows what happened in the minutes before a man was shot twice in a doctor's office waiting room, however, police are not releasing the video to the public.
Police allowed media to view the 14-minute video, but not to film or broadcast it because this is a medical situation.
Authorities say a 27-year-old man came into the University of Maryland Medical Center mental health clinic with a knife, and the tense situation ended in gunfire.
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Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle says the boiling point of a dangerous and dramatic situation fell in line with officers' training.
"The officers used an incredible amount of restraint throughout this encounter. They did everything they could to de-escalate this situation. So the video speaks for itself," Tuggle said.
Officer's body cam video shown only to reporters shows Officers Tankeisha Cokley and Epifano Torres Junior try to de-escalate the situation.
The video shows a clearly agitated 27-year-old man repeatedly refuse to put down the knife in his hand or talk to officers. He is then shown appearing to toss waiting room chairs, holding one as a shield.
"He was sort of using the chair to sort of advance himself as he was holding the knife, holding the officers at bay with the knife," Tuggle said.
During the tense standoff, the man repeatedly threatened to stab officers and came toward them erratically, screaming things like, "Go ahead and shoot me" and "I'm going to die tonight."
Officers called for a medic and a supervisor before the man charged at them with a chair and knife in hand.
Two officers shot the man, another deployed a taser.
The man is in stable condition.
After an emergency petition, the man is now receiving mental health treatment.
He won't be criminally charged.
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