The Caddo DA's office has released dash cam video of Shreveport Police Chief Alan Crump's involvement in the pursuit of a suspect. You can click here to see the video.

City Attorney William Bradford will join us on KEEL Friday morning at 8:10 to talk about investigation and the decision to clear the chief.

On the video you can see Chief Crump drop either his gun or his cell phone. He tripped and fell while picking up that object. The Chief says he happened on the chase on October 30th and jumped from his car to help. He is heard telling investigators he heard several shots before he got involved in the chase. He also tells investigators the suspect did turn back toward him after crossing Hearne Avenue and that's when he fired shots.

The chase began after three young men tried to break into a car outside a Hollywood Avenue business. The car owner confronted the would-be burglars, there was an exchange of gunfire and one of the burglars was shot and killed while the other two ran off.

KTBS reports this sequence of events:

  • The sound of three shots fired, then a "shots fired" warning by an officer.
  • Seconds later, a male runs across the street, pursued by two police officers -- one of them Crump.
  • As Crump runs across the street, something falls to the ground -- investigators believe it's the department-issue pistol he is carrying; the city attorney believes it's Crump's cell phone. That object slides across the street and comes to rest by the curb. Crump struggles a couple of times to pick up the object, trips and falls.
  • The next sound is "officer down!" before the police chief recovers and gets up to resume the chase. The suspect was arrested later.

City Attorney William Bradford said of the city's decision not to release the material first. "He acted in good faith. He was there with his patrol officers being a police officer."

Bradford tells KTBS Crump's cell phone fell to the ground -- not his gun.

"I reviewed (the video) with a closer zoom and it's very clear to me that Chief Crump neither loses control of his firearm nor does it appear that he accidentally discharges his firearm. What occurs in that video is that Chief Crump fires his weapon and his cell phone that is kept on his utility belt falls forward, and he stumbles and he attempts to retrieve it. As he is attempting to retrieve it, he maintains control of his firearm in his right hand, retrieves the device in his left hand -- and at the time he bends down to retrieve the device, trips and falls forward, recovers himself and resumes the chase of the suspect."

We will be asking Bradford more about this investigation Friday morning at 8:10 on KEEL.

Crump is now back on the job after being cleared by the Mayor earlier this week.

 

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