Anchorage officer justified in the fatal shooting of a man who charged at officer with a knife

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The Anchorage police officer involved in the shooting death of an Anchorage man this fall was cleared on Tuesday by the Office of Special Prosecutions (OSP).

With the completion of the OSP’s review came the Anchorage Police Department’s release of a body worn camera showing the shooting of James Afuvai.

The videos show multiple perspectives of the shooting of the 24-year-old by Sgt. James Dokken the night of Sept. 29 off North Park Street in Mountain View.

Afuvai can be seen walking toward the officer across the street. After multiple commands to drop the weapon, Dokken fires at Afuvai.

A black unmarked patrol car arrives as Afuvai is shot, falls to the ground and drops the knife.

It was not until after the shooting that APD became aware that Afuvai was the person who had called 911.

APD’s Mobile Intervention Team (MIT) was responding to the situation — the caller (Afuvai) was suspected of having a mental health crisis — but arrived after the shooting took place.

Afuvai’s approach toward the officer waiting for backup quickly escalated.

In a body camera video recording of the call, Afuvai tells a responding officer “there’s a crazy guy with a knife” who is outside with him.

The officer encourages Afuvai to distance himself from the person with the knife that Afuvai says is “standing in front” of him.

“Can you please come? Please?” Afuvai asks.

“Yeah, we’re coming,” the officer responds. “You need to listen to me. If there’s an emergency, you need to go inside and separate from this guy.”

“Please, can you come?” Afuvai asks again.

“Yeah, sir, I already said I was,” the officer says.

“OK, thank you,” Afuvai says.