Tennessee authorities have released dramatic video of a traffic stop in a Dollar General parking lot last week where a 31-year-old woman shot a Nashville police officer who returned fire that ultimately caused her death after she fled the scene and crashed.
The shootout happened around 9:30 a.m. Friday on Brick Church Pike, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department.
The incident began when East Precinct Officer Josh Baker, a 14-year veteran, pulled over a black Chevrolet Camaro being driven by Nika Nicole Holbert after he learned the car’s owner had six outstanding drug warrants, authorities said.
Baker soon discovered, however, that the driver was not the owner of the car, which was registered to convicted felon Demond M. Buchanan, according to NPD spokesman Don Aaron.
Upon stopping in the parking lot, the woman immediately exited her vehicle before the officer had a chance to approach the Camaro.
Holbert initially complied with the officer’s instructions, but did not have a driver’s license, Aaron said.
Police body cam footage next shows Holbert leaning back into her car and Baker commanding her to take her hands out of a handbag and hand it over to him, which she does, the video shows.
Baker then asks the woman what she took out of the bag.
“Listen,” the officer told Holbert. “Just come back here. I just think we’re getting off on the wrong foot.”
The two briefly exchange words, where the officer explains why he pulled her over, to which Holbert replied she was in the car alone. Baker then asks the woman to step to the rear of the vehicle as he called for backup.
The woman was never handcuffed.
Next, video shows Holbert going back inside the car to retrieve her cellphone.
The woman apparently called her mother and asked if she could come to the scene as the officer began inspecting the purse on the trunk of the Camaro. Inside he discovers a pack of cigarettes and what appears to be small bag of marijuana.
The officer then confiscates the drugs and walks it back over to his patrol car, at which time Holbert, still not handcuffed, picks up the handbag again. Baker then says he needs to continue his search of the handbag but allows Holbert to retrieve a lighter from inside the car in order to light a cigarette.
Moments later, Baker appears to find more drugs in the purse and attempts to arrest Holbert.
From there the situation escalates.
Video shows Holbert refusing to turn around to be handcuffed and she grabs the handbag from the trunk and runs around the vehicle screaming, the video shows.
The officer orders Holbert to stop and he is shown pointing a taser at the woman, who jumps back into the driver’s seat. The officer finally deployed the taser after Holbert is inside the car, but the stun gun had little if any effect on the woman.
Next the officer is heard yelling “Put the gun down” as a barrage of gunfire rang out between the two.
The officer fired his service weapon several times during the brief exchange, but authorities have not revealed how many shots were actually fired.
Body camera and dash cam footage shows the officer falling backward to the ground after being wounded in the torso. Baker was incapacitated as the woman reversed the car, threw her weapon onto the pavement and sped away, video shows.
She later crashed at the intersection of Brick Church Pike and Moorewood Drive, reports said.
Emergency crews arrived and took the woman to TriStar Skyline Medical Center, where she died, according to the Nashville Tennessean.
The officer underwent surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and is expected to survive, according to the Nashville Tennessean.
“What happened today is a reminder that being a police officer anywhere can be a dangerous job,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers are with Officer Baker and with the families of everyone involved.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate.
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