On January 1, 2016, Police Officer Quincy Smith “responded to a suspicious persons call at the Charles Party Shop” in Estill, South Carolina, reports the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Smith was wearing glasses embedded with a camera; the footage was released Thursday.
When a woman at the shop tells Smith that “a man wearing camouflage and a red bandana tried snatching groceries from customers,” the officer leaves the store, gets in his vehicle, and pulls up behind a man matching the clerk’s description a few hundred yards away from the alleged incident.
The man has since been identified as Malcolm Antwan Orr.
Smith exits his vehicle, and calls to Orr: “Come here, man. Come here for a second.” Orr simply looks back, and begins to walk away.
Smith calls again: “Come here. You better stop. Come here.” Orr continues walking, and begins to pick up the pace just slightly. Getting closer to the suspect, Smith starts to yell: “Stop. Stop! Take your hands out your pocket! If you don’t stop, I'm gonna tase you. I'm not playing with you. Take your hand out your pocket!”
Orr, with his hand still inside his jacket pocket, keeps walking.
When Smith issues a final demand for Orr to take his hand out of his pocket, he does so, revealing a gun. Orr fires eight shots at Smith in quick succession.
“Shots fired!” Smith can be heard yelling as he hits the ground and begins to run to his patrol car. Orr continues to fire even as the officer bolts for cover. Smith sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the arm, torso, and neck.
Upon reaching his car, Smith radios for help. “Dispatch, I’m hit! Dispatch, Echo 7, I’m hit!” With a labored breath in-between words, Smith utters: “Dispatch … help.” Several seconds later, blood visible on the interior of the police car, as well as on his right hand, Officer Smith reports that his “arms are broken,” adding: “Help me, please.”
In a heartbreaking moment, Smith tells the operator on the other end of the radio: “Dispatch, please tell my family I love them.”
A bystander appears at the scene, and does what he can to help Smith and keep him calm. Two women who appear to know Smith personally approach as well.
Panicked, one woman asks if Smith knows who shot him. Another woman prays: “In the name of Jesus, you shall live. In the name of Jesus, you will not die!”
Soon, sirens can be heard, an ambulance arrives, and Officer Quincy Smith is taken to the hospital.
He survived.
The incredible footage is difficult to watch, but it should be seen. In a time when police officers are regularly vilified for the actions of a few, videos like this remind us that the great majority of law enforcement officers risk their lives every day so that we can live safely.
Fortunately, in large part because of the footage taken by Smith’s camera, Malcolm Antwan Orr was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for attempted murder and “possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.”
Poster Comment:
The cop's mistake was in failing to tase the perp after his second warning to stop. So not a stellar police performance.
But we see again how useful cop body cams are in determining events later.
But we see again how useful cop body cams are in determining events later.
Pfft! Body cams. Panem et Circenses.
The cop's mistake was in failing to tase the perp after his second warning to stop.
In hindsight, sure. In hindsight he should have pulled his gun rather than his taser.
Had the perp been tased and unarmed, Deckard would have had a field day. You have to wonder if the oficer wasn't thinking about political correctness at the time -- and how PC almost killed him.
The cop was too lenient, too unwilling to take forceful action when the suspect began to resist arrest by refusing to stop multiple times.
Yeah,but consider the circumstances. This wasn't Detroit or Chicago. Small town with a small population,and very little violent crime. Probably been decades since a cop was murdered there,if ever. The cop might have even recognized the guy or known his name,and didn't really feel threatened until it was too late to do anything but bleed.
Another thing to consider about small towns is the people that live in them tend to be a LOT less tolerate of anyone putting guns in the faces,even people wearing badges,and if you do it on a regular basis,somebody is going to kill your ass.
I've lived in rural areas,small cities and really big cities,and I tell people that there are no crazy people in rural areas,running around beating,shooting,cutting,or otherwise harming innocent people. Or even any cats or dogs tortured.
The reason for this is that sort of behavior shows itself early,and the children that do things like that tend to die in "tragic" boating,hunting,or farming "accidents".
Crazy people are just crazy. They aren't stupid. The ones that are even a tiny bit slow are the ones with the "accidents". The others move to big cities where they can hide and not be obvious,and who knows how many people they hurt or kill before they get caught and reach the headlines or tv news shows?
Yeah,you can run into a BUNCH of adults in small towns or rural areas that don't mind giving you a dirt nap if you screw with them,but they will always warn you first,and the general attitude seems to be "Well,he WAS warned...." if something bad happens.
Yeah,but consider the circumstances. This wasn't Detroit or Chicago. Small town with a small population,and very little violent crime. Probably been decades since a cop was murdered there,if ever. The cop might have even recognized the guy or known his name,and didn't really feel threatened until it was too late to do anything but bleed.
A pretty small town. Estill is ~2,040 people (2010 census) and is 16% white and 77% black.
I think that every cop has to be credible to enforce the law, from the smallest burg to the biggest city. The cop's first job is to make everyone "respect my authoritah".
This is how another small town, South Park, operates.
