BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Police have released body cam video from officers who shot a man, who they say killed someone right in front of them, before firing into their patrol car.
It was just after 7 p.m. last Friday when Nakeem Haynes, 27, allegedly shot and killed Atlas Johnson, 63, in front of a laundromat, not far from the Broadway Market on Buffalo's East Side.
According to Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia, the killing happened in view of two Buffalo Police officers who were on routine patrol.
Shots fired
When officers began to pursue Haynes with their patrol car, they caught up to him in a parking lot where, according to Gramaglia, "the individual jumped onto the hood of the police car and and fired one round through the windshield of the police car."
That round ended up striking the gun holster of officer Jake MacKenzie.
The officers then chased Haynes for several blocks to Kent Street, where Gramaglia said they came under fire again.
The body camera footage shows two officers firing 13 rounds, eight of which struck Haynes, to whom they then began to render first aid after kicking away a gun laying next to his body.
Commissioner: Officers acted by the book
"I believe the actions the officers took were within the confines of the law, and within the confines of department policy with relation to the use of deadly physical force," Gramaglia said. "And it also shows the fact the officers followed our manual procedures on the preservation of life when they did everything they could with the equipment they had to render first aid."
Haynes, despite being shot eight times, is in stable condition now at ECMC.
According to Gramaglia, there is no body camera footage from when Haynes allegedly first fired at officers.
"The officers who discharged their weapons did not have their body cameras activated because they were on routine patrol and not on an active call, and our policy does not mandate officers keep their cameras on active recording at all times," Gramaglia said, while noting the batteries wouldn't last through a typical shift if the cameras ran continuously.
"The officers activate the cameras when they are responding to a call," said Gramaglia, who said that it was only seconds after they witnessed the shooting, that the officers came under fire.
"They then have to turn their cameras on as soon as it is safe to do so, and I applaud them for getting their cameras on as quickly as they did while they were in a foot pursuit."
Buffalo Police cars also do not have dash cams.
According to police, Haynes was out on parole after having served time in prison on a felony gun charge, which under state law would have made it illegal for him to have a firearm in the first place.
He now faces more serious counts of murder, and attempted first degree murder of a police officer.