Body cameras capture what led up to Pineville officer killing man

CHARLOTTE — The Pineville Police Department has shared new body camera footage showing the moments before one of their officers shot and killed an unarmed man.

In the video, you can see Pineville Sgt. Adam Roberts following Bodden outside of a Food Lion in south Charlotte on May 14. Police originally responded to the scene after receiving a call that Bodden had been shoplifting at the store.

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Pineville police say between April 2 and May 14, they received six calls about Bodden stealing from the Food Lion on Johnston Road. He was banned from the store nearly a month before the interaction that killed him.

The video begins with a dispatcher asking the 911 caller what’s going on.

“I got the same guy who keeps coming in here shoplifting,” the caller said.

Police said that 911 call was made by a store employee. After that call came in, the video shows Sgt. Roberts responding to the store’s parking lot, where he spotted Bodden in a yellow raincoat. After telling Bodden to stop, Roberts pulled his Taser.

Roberts followed Bodden across the parking lot to Johnston Road while asking him to stop. Eventually, Bodden tried to walk across the street into traffic before Roberts pulled him back. But later, Bodden crossed the road into the median, where Roberts grabbed him and threw him to the ground.

“You almost just died, dude,” you can hear in the video.

Roberts then claimed Bodden bit him. The Pineville Police Department shared a photo of that alleged injury.

That’s when Roberts fired his Taser at Bodden twice.

Bodden eventually got up and continued toward what Pineville police say was his apartment. Police backup arrived, which is when you see Roberts push Bodden. Bodden pushed him back and started throwing punches.

Body camera video from Officer Randall Down, the second officer on scene, showed Down getting out of his car during the scuffle. He fired his Taser and missed.

When that happened, police said Roberts believed Officer Down’s life was in danger and Bodden was trying to grab his gun. That’s when he fired three shots, killing Bodden.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department investigated the shooting and cleared Roberts of any wrongdoing, saying he will not face charges.

The family of Dennis Bodden responded to the release of the full video with a statement from their attorney saying in part, “Mr. Bodden’s mental health condition does not provide a valid justification for his questionable and unjustifiable killing by the Pineville Police Department, which has continually distorted his character to rationalize his assassination by one of their police officers.”

Bodden’s mother said he was dealing with a mental health crisis and that a Crisis Intervention Team should have responded instead of armed officers.

VIDEO: Pineville police defends letting officer see body camera video before being questioned

Pineville police defends letting officer see body camera video before being questioned

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