SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) - Maryland authorities on Wednesday released body camera video of a police officer fatally shooting a man who he says attacked him.
One of the videos released by Montgomery County Police showed Officer Anand Badgujar running and walking through a neighborhood on June 11 after Robert White, 41, a black man from Silver Spring who was unarmed.
During his pursuit, Badgujar is heard shouting to White, “Hey, big man, you need to stop.”
After an initial confrontation, Badgujar told a dispatcher, “He’s got his hands in his pocket. Might be a suicide-by-cop type thing.”
Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in June that White was unarmed, but he assaulted Badgujar after the officer “attempted to speak” with him. Badgujar ended up in the area of the Silver Spring townhouse community on an unrelated call, but it wasn’t initially clear why he focused on White.
With the situation escalating, the officer tried to pepper spray White, police said, and then requested assistance after the man moved away.
Later in the video, after getting some distance between himself and the officer, White appeared to yell: “Get in the car. Stop following me if you’re not going to do it.” By then, the two men had reached a townhouse complex.
As Badgujar approached, he told White, “Sir, I do not want to shoot you. Sir, I don’t want to (expletive) shoot you, bro.”
Badgujar was later shown reaching into his car under the steering column to turn off the ignition.
White was heard on the video yelling, “Do it!” multiple times at the officer. At one point, he appeared to try to get into a police cruiser.
Near the end of the video, White takes several stutter steps toward the officer, continuing to yell “Do it!” and “Big shot!” White charged the officer. Badgujar fires twice and falls to the sidewalk. White is heard to grunt, then seemed to yell “Do it again!”
In the ensuing struggle in which the officer is still on the ground, he fires more shots. White falls and stops moving.
Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino said in a July 27 letter to Manger that after a review of the evidence and the law, it was concluded that Badgujar’s actions “were justified under the circumstances.”
Broccolino noted that investigators reviewed video and other evidence and Badgujar responded to questions prosecutors posed to him through his attorney.
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