BODYCAM: 3 Nashville Officer Shoot And Kill Knife Wielding Man

Body camera video has been released after Metro Police said three officers shot and killed a man with a knife who charged at them.

It happened just after 5 a.m. Wednesday morning along Charlotte Pike in West Nashville.

The 31-year-old man who police killed has not been identified. Police say he's from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.

The officers involved have been identified as K9 Officer Richard Clemmons, Officer Colin Bleem and Officer Jonathan Phipps.

According to the critical briefing posted by Metro Police on YouTube, Officer Clemmons was doing routine business checks when he passed an SUV outside Cricket Wireless store and turned around to check it out.

After approaching the SUV, Clemmons saw that the driver was armed with knife and repeatedly told him to put it down. Officer Clemmons radioed for backup.

Officer Bleem and Officer Phipps responded to the scene just prior to the man charging at them, police said. Body camera footage captured the moments before the shooting and the deadly incident on video.

Officer Clemmons can be heard making repeated calls to put the knife down before calling for backup.

“Metro Police put the knife down, c’mon man, I’m just here checking on ya, everything’s good, please put the knife down bro,” Clemmons said. “It’s not worth it man.”

Officer Bleem and Officer Phipps arrived on scene and more calls to drop the knife are heard.

“Drop it! Drop it!”

The man can then be seen getting out of his vehicle and going toward officers. Then multiple rounds of gunfire ring out. The 31-year-old can be seen dropping in the street.

An officer radios in, “shots fired.”

More video provided by MNPD shows body camera footage from Phipps and Bleem.

Police gave First Aid to the man, who later died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. No officers were hurt.

"Our police officers don't report to work thinking this is going to happen to them on this specific shift,” Metro Nashville Police Department Spokesman Don Aaron said.

With highly trained officers, we asked why officers didn't try a less-lethal option.

"There's a variety of answers to that. One is you have a person coming at you with a knife and he's charging at you. The officers need to stop the threat in defense of themselves. Yes, the department does use less than lethal force when it's appropriate,” Aaron said.

Commander Scott Byrd, the MNPD's Director of Training, spoke about the instruction given to officers regarding people armed with knives.

“An individual with a knife represents a deadly-force threat. That knife can cause significant injury and/or death if that individual gets to launching into an attack, either on the officer or a member of the general public at large," Byrd said. "Because the knife represents a deadly force threat, it is appropriate for the officer who’s responding on that to present a deadly force option, that being a firearm that they have available to them."

Source: ThisIsButter

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