Newly revealed dash cam footage reveals the details of a Texas police shooting of an unarmed man, NBC News reported, in a case that has wound its way through courts for years in a federal lawsuit.
The traffic stop in the Rusk County, an East Texas area, over Timothy Michael Randall allegedly running a stop sign just after midnight escalated into Sgt. Shane Iversen ordering him out of the car, then wrestling him to the ground after Randall adjusted his waistband.
Randall is heard asking “Officer, please, can you tell me what I’m under arrest for?”
He then tried to run after being thrown around forcefully, after which Iversen fatally shot him.
"Randall continued to run down the street but collapsed face down. Iversen radioed for help and then tried to render medical aid, but Randall died on the pavement. The bullet had torn through his ribs, lungs and heart, according to autopsy records," read the court report.
"After another deputy arrived minutes later, Iversen, then 57, returned to his patrol car and phoned a colleague. 'I just smoked a dude,' he said in a hushed voice." The comment was recorded by his dash camera.
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An investigation and a grand jury ultimately returned no indictment, but a federal lawsuit filed by Randall's mother, Wendy Tippitt, revealed the details and the dash cam footage.
Iversen ultimately retired from the force and had fought in court to prevent the video from being made public, per the report.
“The only person that was attacking anybody was Sgt. Iversen attacking my son,” said Tippitt.
Police shootings, more public than in the past due to cell phone and police camera footage, have raised ongoing protests and debates about the use of force. One of the most high-profile such cases was the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, which ultimately led to both state and federal convictions and a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
