NEW ORLEANS — An NOPD officer fired their gun in late January during the apprehension of a 15-year-old who had been involved in 46 criminal incidents, the NOPD said Friday.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, was injured in the confrontation, though NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said he was not injured by gunfire. The NOPD would not elaborate on the previous crimes or why the suspect was out free with that type of record.
Police released the body camera video of the arrest they said shows officers alerted to a stolen vehicle that had been reported at the scene of an aggravated assault earlier that evening. The vehicle was near the intersection of College Court and Earhart Boulevard shortly after midnight on Jan. 25.
At the scene, officers said the teen was asleep in the vehicle with a weapon in his waistband and was "easily accessible," according to Kirkpatrick.
Once he woke up, the teen allegedly tried to flee in the vehicle, nearly hitting several officers. The attempted escape prompted an officer to discharge their weapon at the alleged oncoming vehicle.
The driver was not shot, but eventually detained and transported to a hospital for treatment of non-shooting injuries sustained during the incident.
"I am incredibly grateful to God himself, that no police officer was shot or killed, and, in this event, fortunately the young man was taken into custody without any injury to him from gunfire," she added.
A look at the video on YouTube showed the incident was similar to as it was described by police. Officers approach the vehicle where the suspect appears to be sleeping. Once they flash a light and knock on the window to try to wake him up, the suspect begins to drive the car back and forth. While it doesn't appear that he was able to speed up towards any officers, he was obviously not responding to their commands to stop and get out of the car and he did strike at least one police vehicle.
Three shots were fired at different times, though police said none of them struck the suspect. At some point, he gets out of the car and takes off. A second body camera from another officer showed the arrest, with several officers around the suspect, holding him in place and attempting to place cuffs.
Upon release from medical care, the suspect was booked into the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center on the following charges:
- one count of resisting a police officer with force or violence
- one count of juvenile in possession of a firearm
- three counts of aggravated assault upon a peace officer with a motor vehicle
Kirkpatrick said the officer who fired their weapon is a 27-year veteran of the NOPD. She said the officer was temporarily assigned to desk duty while an investigation was conducted. Though the investigations continue, she said, he has returned to normal duty.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the NOPD Public Integrity Bureau at 504-658-6800.
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