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

PINEVILLE, N.C. — The Pineville Police Department is defending itself in the wake of a deadly police shooting.

On Tuesday, the Mecklenburg County district attorney criticized the department for allowing its officers involved in the shooting death of Dennis Bodden the opportunity to review their body camera footage before meeting with investigators.

The incident happened on May 14 near a Food Lion on Johnston Road. A Pineville police officer shot and killed Bodden, a shoplifting suspect, after police had used a Taser on him two different times.

Despite the concerns raised by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the Meck DA, both determined the officer-involved shooting was justified.

According to DA Spencer Merriweather’s consultation letter, immediately after the shooting, CMPD investigators asked Pineville PD to restrict Sgt. Adam Roberts and Officer Randall Down from accessing the recordings. Sgt. Roberts shot and killed Bodden. Officer Down also responded to the scene and was present during the shooting. The letter states Sgt. Roberts chose to not review the body camera video in advance of meeting with investigators. According to Merriweather, Officer Down reviewed his video and the body camera footage of Sgt. Roberts before meeting with investigators.

The letter from Merriweather states CMPD investigators wanted to make sure the officers’ descriptions and explanations of their actions would be based only on their memory and not impacted by their viewing of the recording. But prior to Officer Down’s interview, Pineville police told investigators they would allow Down and Roberts to view their body camera footage before being questioned.

Merriweather said he expressed his concerns to PPD.

“I relayed my own concerns to PPD and discouraged allowing the officers to view the body-worn camera prior to their interviews,” Merriweather said in the letter. “PPD maintained that it intended to allow the officers to view their body-worn camera footage, as the agency believed that to be consistent with best practices for law enforcement agencies in officer-involved shooting investigations.”

Pineville Police Department Capt. Corey Copley responded to the DA’s concerns, defending the decision to Channel 9.

“This was a complicated and tough decision,” Copley said. “This is an unsettled matter in the policing profession.”

Copley pointed to a 2022 article that addresses the matter. It states it is appropriate to allow officers to view the camera footage prior to interviews and the “mere possibility of memory misattribution should not be used to deny society the benefit of video-prompted memory enhancement.”

The article says interviewers should ask the officers if they noticed anything in the video that they did not perceive in real time or if they perceived anything in real time that is not reflected on the video.

Copley says the department also consulted with its attorney.

“Together we agreed it would be in the best interest of the officer and the public to allow the officer to view the body camera footage before his interview,” he said.

The DA’s office declined to provide further comment.

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