WASHINGTON — DC Police have released body camera footage from a shooting by an officer in Southeast D.C. on Feb. 10.
According to Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Robert Contee III, the incident happened after a woman who had been hit with a pipe called the police. When officers responded, they looked for the man who struck the woman.
During a search of the area, an officer approached a man who Contee said abruptly got into the passenger side of a burgundy Jeep parked on Good Hope Road.
The bodycam footage released Friday night begins with the officer approaching the Jeep with a man, identified as 38-year-old Steven Shaw, getting into the passenger seat and closing the door.
As the officer stops outside the Jeep, Shaw rolls down the window and says several times, "It ain't me" in reference to the person police are looking for related to the earlier assault.
"Some girl and a dude were fighting or something up there, it wasn't me," Shaw said.
The officer is heard radioing in to ask if the person in a yellow and blue jacket was a suspect. Shaw is wearing a yellow and blue jacket in the video. Once the officer receives word that the person is considered a suspect, the officer is seen opening the Jeep door and asking Shaw to step out.
"It's not me! What am I getting out for?" Shaw said.
He refuses to get out of the car. Voices are raised as the two go back and forth.
"If it's not you, we're going to get it figured out," the officer said.
"I'm not getting out! I'm not getting out! It's not me, man," Shaw said.
Shaw remains in the car and the officer tells him to stop reaching and show his hands several times. At one point, Shaw raises his hands while still remaining seated in the passenger seat of the car.
The video shows the officer once again telling Shaw to stop reaching.
"How the f--- am I reaching? My hands are up," Shaw said.
The officer is then seen grabbing Shaw by his jacket sleeve.
"Step out of the car or I'm going to take you out of the car," the officer says on the video. "How is it going to be?"
The officer tries to pull Shaw out of the car, and Shaw resists, grabbing on to the door of the car. The video then shows the officer draw his gun and hold it against Shaw's abdomen. The officer repeatedly says, "Stop reaching" while the two wrestle. During the struggle, the officer fires his weapon.
A woman in the driver's seat leans over to try to separate the two, screaming "don't shoot him, please don't shoot him!"
"He shot me," Shaw yells during the ongoing struggle. "Why you shoot me?”
Officers are then seen handcuffing Shaw and pulling him from the car. Several witnesses on the sidewalk are heard yelling.
Police recovered cocaine from Shaw, and he was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute.
Police later arrested 59-year-old Wallace Lewis of Southeast D.C. for the originally reported assault with the metal pipe.
The officer involved in the shooting remains on administrative leave while the U.S. Attorney's Office for D.C. (USAO) completes its review of the incident. A letter sent by D.C. Deputy Mayor Lindsey Appiah to Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto identifies the officer as Alex Rosario-Berroa.
Once the USAO completes its review, the case will be investigated by MPD's Internal Affairs Bureau.
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED: The video below shows the moments before, during and after a police shooting.