By Clara NielI
Source The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Newly released bodycam footage shows police officers repeatedly order a man suspected of a fatal stabbing to drop a knife, before he charges toward them and they fatally shoot him.
The Office of the Maryland Attorney General on Monday released body-camera footage from multiple officers, recorded in the early hours of Nov. 29, after Aaron Mensah, 23, of Frederick, allegedly stabbed his mother and father in the 5800 block of Haller Place, in a neighborhood east of Frederick.
Mensah's father, Jacob Mensah, later died of his wounds.
In a second video, released by the Frederick County Sheriff's Office on Monday, additional footage from a Maryland State Police trooper's body camera that is not included in the video clips provided by the Attorney General's Office shows deputies discovering Jacob Mensah lying in the street, wounded.
When asked where he was stabbed, Jacob Mensah replied, "Everywhere."
The video released by FCSO also included the initial 911 call placed by Aaron Mensah's sister.
Footage from body cameras worn by Frederick Police Department officers who responded to the call shows two different angles of the shooting and the attempts by officers to first use non-lethal means to get Mensah to stop.
None of the sheriff's office deputies who shot Aaron Mensah had body cameras, according to text included in both videos.
The first body-camera footage came from an officer watching Aaron Mensah from a distance in the 5800 block of Zoe Lane, which is in the same neighborhood as Haller Place. Officers instruct him to drop the knife before announcing that they are going to shoot a less lethal, beanbag shotgun round at Mensah before they do so. It was not clear if Mensah was struck by the beanbag round.
After a few moments, Mensah runs into the street toward other officers and deputies who are closer to him.
The second body-camera footage is from the vantage point of an officer who was among the group Mensah charged toward.
Mensah is initially standing on the sidewalk with a knife in his hand while the officers and deputies are standing across the street. Officers and deputies again shout at him to drop his weapon. Mensah then begins to run toward the officers.
As Mensah runs into the street, the officer whose bodycam is recording shoots him with a Taser stun gun. Almost simultaneously, deputies with the sheriff's office — later identified as Deputy First Class Cassy Boettcher, Deputy Travis Stely and Deputy Nathan McLeroy — shoot him and Mensah falls to the ground.
Mensah appears to get within about 10 feet of the officer who has the Taser before he is shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The deputies who shot Mensah were put on paid administrative leave while authorities investigate.
Under state law, the Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General's Office investigates when law enforcement officers are involved with incidents in the state in which a civilian dies or has injuries likely to result in death.
Thomas Lester, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office's Independent Investigations Division, said the office had hundreds of minutes of footage of the incident. But since it is strictly investigating the shooting by deputies, that was the only footage the division released.
The Independent Investigations Division is waiting on autopsy results of Aaron Mensah and other evidence, Lester said. After everything has been reviewed, the division will write a report and legal analysis that will be sent to the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office.
Lester said he doesn't know when the report will be released, but the IID's investigations generally take about four months.
The state's attorney's office will make the final call on whether to prosecute the deputies, he said.
The sheriff's office said in a post on Facebook that it released additional footage to "provide additional information to the community."
At around 2:10 a.m. on Nov. 29, Mensah's sister called police and said her brother was attacking their parents, according to the sheriff's office. Deputies with the sheriff's office responded to 5804 Haller Place, a neighborhood south of Old National Pike between Frederick and New Market.
Deputies found Aaron Mensah's mother in the house with stab wounds and Jacob Mensah outside the home, also with stab wounds, the sheriff's office said.
The mother — who has not been publicly identified — was flown to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and later released with "superficial injuries," according to the sheriff's office.
Sheriff's office deputies, troopers with Maryland State Police and Frederick Police Department officers found Mensah a few streets away in the 5800 block of Zoe Lane.
An officer shot a beanbag shotgun round at Mensah, the sheriff's office said. Afterwards, Mensah charged at officers and deputies, who shot their Tasers and guns.
Officials have not said how many rounds were fired at Mensah. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff's office said.
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