State AG’s Office releases bodycam footage of fatal shooting by police in Englewood

0:00 - 911 Call
4:27 - Dispatch audio
8:43 - Body cam 1
13:33 - Body cam 2
17:16 - Body cam 3
22:20 - Taser cam
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A chilling trio of bodycam videos released by state authorities shows a fatal Labor Day encounter between Englewood police and a city man who’d just stabbed three people.

Bernard Placide has a bedroom door in a West Englewood Avenue home partially open in the video when Officers Brian Havlicek and Luana Sharpe find him shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6.

“Put your hands up now or you’re gonna get shot. I’m not kidding,” Havlicek tells Placide as he and fellow Sharpe stand outside the door, their guns pointed, in the video from three police body cameras.

Both of them repeatedly tell Placide to put his hands up and then "drop the knife." He doesn’t respond, however.

A third officer tells Havlicek: “Tase him.”

Havlicek swaps his gun for a Taser, then pushes the door open with his foot in the video released on Thursday, Oct. 6.

“Go, go!” Havlicek shouts at Sharpe while administering a shock to Placide.

Sharpe rushes Placide, who’s on the floor.

He’s shirtless, wearing yellow rubber cleaning gloves, with something in his right hand. The red optical laser dot from the officer's gun can be seen on his chest.

“Drop it! Drop it!” Sharpe shrieks as she struggles with Placide. He doesn’t let go of what he's holding, however.

A single muffled shot is heard from her gun.

Sharpe runs from the room.

Officers retrieve her gun and tend to Placide while others call for an ambulance. Placide is brought into the hallway and life-saving efforts begin.

CPR was in progress as he was taken by ambulance to nearby Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in grave condition with a gunshot wound in the chest, responders told Daily Voice at the time.

Placide was pronounced dead at the hospital 9:17 a.m., a release accompanying the videos from the office of New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.

The three wounded civilians were treated at an area hospital and released, it says.

The attorney general’s staff shared the videos and 911 call with Placide’s family before making them public on Thursday.

The family released a statement through attorney Eric V. Kleiner of Englewood Cliffs:

"At this preliminary stage, it is crystal clear that this officer recklessly and indefensibly used excessive lethal force. If the officer and the EPD had followed standard rules of police engagement and police protocol Bernard would be alive today facing what would’ve been a minor criminal charge. The video footage also clearly depicts the officer acting with [the] consciousness of guilt [by] fleeing the scene leaving Bernard for dead."

The bodycam videos show the officers arriving, speaking with one of the victims and then being directed to a hallway before they found Placide in a rear bedroom.

Placide, who was 6-foot-4 inches tall and weighed 300 pounds, played offensive tackle at Dwight Morrow High School. He was graduated in 2018.

“Officers issued multiple commands for him to drop the weapon,” the attorney general’s release says. “When Mr. Placide failed to comply, Officer Brian Havlicek deployed a taser.

“Officer Luana Sharpe discharged her firearm, fatally wounding Mr. Placide.

“Police and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid. Officer Sharpe was also treated for an injury to her hand from the knife.”

State law requires the state Attorney General's Office to investigate all deaths in New Jersey that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody," no matter what the circumstances are.

The guidelines guarantee that the investigation by the attorney general's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.

Once the investigation is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury.

The grand jury reviews a host of evidence -- including witness interviews, body and dashcam video, and forensic and autopsy results -- to determine whether or not there's cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement.