Dallas police on Tuesday released edited body-camera footage of a Highland Park traffic stop that ended with an officer shooting a man after, police say, he got out of a vehicle unprompted and punched the officer.
The encounter took place on Sunday morning. The man, identified as Jeremy Mays, was wearing a bulky ring that police say broke bones in the officer’s nose and around his eye.
“Let me be clear: This is unacceptable,” police Chief Daniel Comeaux said during a news conference at Jack Evans Police Headquarters, calling the events leading up to the early morning shooting “unbelievable.”
Both men were hospitalized. Comeaux said by Tuesday, Mays was in stable condition after undergoing surgery. Officer Ashton Rosebud, the sole officer on the initial stop, was recovering at home as doctors determined whether surgery was needed.
Mays, 27, will face a charge of aggravated assault of a public servant causing serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.
The edited body-camera footage also showed Mays had an earlier encounter with other officers, roughly 10 minutes before the shooting in the 4100 block of Mockingbird Lane.
The officer shooting marked the department’s eighth this year. After he was struck, Rosebud fired two shots, with one hitting Mays in the abdomen, before falling to the ground, Deputy Chief Williams Griffith said.
Allison Hudson, a police spokesperson, said Rosebud was placed on administrative leave under department policy after the shooting. The department’s Special Investigations Unit and the Dallas County district attorney’s office are investigating.
The footage shows Mays telling Rosebud he was not armed. Police did not find a firearm during a search of the area, according to a news release.
Griffith said Mays, a passenger in the stopped vehicle, appeared to be “extremely intoxicated,” though police were awaiting toxicology results as of Tuesday.
Rosebud stopped the vehicle because it was operating without lights on, police said. During the encounter, the driver — whom police did not publicly identify — left the scene and later turned herself in to Frisco police, Griffith said.
She is unlikely to face criminal charges, Griffith said, because she is collaborating with investigators.
Hudson said a 911 caller reported a man was walking along the Central Expressway before the shooting. The call led other officers to encounter a man — later identified as Mayes — before the Highland Park shooting.
Mays was hostile toward two officers in the brief interaction, Griffith said. A black Jeep then pulled up, and officers directed Mays into the vehicle before it drove away.
Comeaux said those officers acted appropriately.
“They got him out of trouble and made sure he was in the vehicle,” he said, “and the vehicle drove off safely.”