The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office released edited and redacted clips of body camera and dash camera footage from a fatal traffic stop in June. The stop culminated in a Sheriff’s deputy fatally shooting the 21-year-old driver and the deputy being hospitalized with critical injuries.
A roughly two-minute body camera clip shows the deputy pulling over Jarveon Hudspeth on June 24 in a residential neighborhood of the Raleigh area.
Hudspeth complies with requests from the deputy for his license and then to exit his vehicle. The deputy instructs him not to reach for anything.
As he exits the vehicle, Hudspeth tells the deputy he has a firearm inside. Both seem calm in manner and tone. Hudspeth continues to comply with instructions as the deputy pats him down at the rear of his car.
The deputy tells Hudspeth he will have to sit in “the back,” an apparent reference to the deputy’s vehicle, while he searches Hudspeth’s vehicle.
After Hudspeth is asked if there’s anything inside, he replies, “I think that’s my…” He trails off and moves towards his open car door.
The deputy tells him, “Don’t get back in the car.”
Hudspeth enters the driver’s seat, appears to put the vehicle in gear and revs the engine with the door still open. The deputy leans in and appears to try and stop him from driving off.
The two struggle as the vehicle begins moving with the deputy gripping the steering wheel and lifting his feet inside. It’s difficult to make out dialogue, but the deputy seems to say something about breaking and killing “the both of us.”
The engine can be heard revving, with Hudspeth’s foot on the accelerator and his other leg appearing to kick the deputy. The camera then goes blurry with motion before it lands on the ground.
The scene is also captured from a different angle in an over-11 minute clip of dash-camera footage. It shows the deputy pulling Hudspeth over and then later, the moment that the car begins to move and the deputy jumps into the vehicle.
An additional two second-long clip from a neighbor’s doorbell camera that was released is brief but shows the car moving quickly down the street on the wrong side of the road. Although it’s difficult to make out at this distance, the clip appears to show someone, who is assumed to be the deputy, falling from the moving vehicle. He is thrown on the sidewalk.
It is not clear in any of the videos at what point the deputy shoots Hudspeth. According to a media briefing from Sheriff Floyd Bonner the day of the incident, the unnamed deputy fired a single shot.
Bonner also said that Hudspeth eventually crashed into a parked vehicle after “dragging” the deputy for about 100 yards. Hudspeth was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead.
The deputy was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Per protocol, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigates officer-involved shootings. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the agency’s review is ongoing.
However, Mulroy said in a statement that his office publicly released this batch of camera footage before the conclusion of the investigation to demonstrate transparency.
“In the past, video has not been released until the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has completed its investigation. Our goal is to speed up that process by showing video as soon as possible when we are sure it won’t compromise the investigation,” Mulroy said.
Hudspeth’s family had previously called on law enforcement to release the footage and to provide them with more information about his death. They were shown the footage prior to Thursday’s public release.
It remains unclear why the traffic stop was initiated. Bonner spoke to media outlets Thursday, before the video’s release, and told them that the deputy could not recall the reason as he recovered from his injuries.
“When you see all of the video, you’ll understand why he couldn’t remember,” Bonner told the Daily Memphian.
Nationally-known attorney, Ben Crump, who is representing Hudspeth’s family, called the deputy’s actions “reckless" in a statement.
“The video clearly shows that the officer voluntarily climbed into the vehicle, potentially putting himself into harm’s way,” Crump said.
WKNO reached out to the Sheriff’s Office for comment. In July, Bonner said previous remarks Crump made about the incident amounted to “political stunts aimed at manipulating public opinion and causing distress for all involved.”
The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said it could not comment further on the incident due to the ongoing investigation.
The video footage can be viewed here. Viewer discretion is advised.
