DeKalb County police have released body camera footage from a September incident in which officers who offered a man a ride ultimately shot and killed him when he revealed he had a gun.
The incident began when two DeKalb officers picked up 33-year-old Christian Smith as he was walking in the median of I-20, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The officers offered Smith a ride to the nearest gas station, police said.
Before dropping Smith off at a Shell gas station on Candler Road, the officers found out there was an active warrant for his arrest, the AJC reported. In the video, the officers can be seen telling Smith that he will be taken to jail. Smith disputed their claim, saying, “I have two different IDs.”
The video shows Smith reaching down to his belt, where the officers were able to see he had a gun.
“What do you got going on there, man?” one of the officers says in the video immediately before Smith pulled his gun, according to police. The officer can be seen pulling his own gun and firing multiple shots as he quickly backpedals away from the patrol car’s door. Smith was wounded by the gunshots and died at the scene.
DeKalb police have requested the GBI to investigate the incident. In a news release, the GBI said a gun was found on Smith’s body.
Both officers were distraught following the incident. One of the officers had patted Smith down before he got into their patrol car, but she had not found his weapon.
“I swear I checked, I swear I checked,” she said.
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