By Erin Jordan
Source The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The Jones County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday released a short segment of body camera video showing the fatal shooting of a man with a knife Aug. 31 near Martelle.
The 15-second video shows Deputy Tim Miller pointing his weapon at Jeremy Berg, 45, of Martelle, around 9 p.m. on the farm of Berg's maternal grandparents, Jerry and Lavonne Pearson.
An officer yells "Hey!" and then Miller starts running after Berg, who fled from officers.
After about five seconds of running, an officer shouts what sounds like "Let me see 'em! Drop the knife!" and then Berg raises his hand with the knife, yells and rushes toward what may be other officers on the scene. Officers then fire what sounds like eight to 10 shots at Berg, who died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Jones County Sheriff Greg Graver said he decided to release the video segment as a way to show Iowans what led up to the shooting.
He said he will release the full videos of the incident when the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the State Fire Marshal are done investigating the shooting and a fire that happened around the same time in the Pearsons' outbuilding.
The Iowa Attorney General last week said the officer-involved shooting was legally justified because Berg had a knife and could have hurt officers or family members. Berg's mother, Margie Fensterman, questioned why officers chased Berg when he was trying to flee.
Fensterman told The Gazette her son was struggling with depression and methamphetamine addiction and may have wanted officers to kill him. He had been working on the outbuilding when the fire started and suffered burns on his arms before a relative got him out of the shop.
The five officers who fired at Berg were put on routine paid leave during the probe. Now that the shooting has been ruled justified, the two Jones County deputies will return to work this week, Graver said.
The other officers on leave were Tyler Hunt, Nick Brokaw and Gabe Humphrey, all from the Anamosa Police Department.
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