Pittsburg Police Release Body Cam Footage Of Shoot-Out With Man Who Wielded A Knife During 'Psychotic Break'
The Pittsburg Police Department released a video of a knife wielding man, who was involved in a police shooting on February 23.
The police said: "Pursuant to Pittsburg Police policy, we are releasing officers' body worn camera footage of the incident in an effort to foster transparency and trust with our community."
"This Critical Incident Video contains a small portion of the footage from an incident that spanned more than 20 hours," they continued. "All of the officers on the scene were equipped with body worn cameras, but due to the lengthy operation, several were not functioning at the conclusion of the incident due to drained batteries."
The police got a 911 call from the Hampton Inn Suites in Pittsburg about a man who had barricaded himself in his room.
45-year-old Ashton Porter was staying at the hotel when he locked his family outside of his room, as he was supposedly going through a "mental crisis."
In the 911 call, Porter could be heard screaming and breaking glass on the other side of the door. An employee at the hotel told police that he had wedged a chair behind the door of room 421.
As the man continued to go on a rampage, other visitors came out to see what the commotion was about, but the hotel attendant, who was heard on the 911 call, was told to have them stay in their rooms.
Officers arrived soon after to discover that the man had actually used multiple pieces of furniture to barricade himself inside the hotel room.
Family on the scene told the police that he was having a "mental issue."
One of Porter's family members came outside to speak to police, and he clarified that the man was going through a "psychotic break" and that they had tried to bring him to a hospital the night before.
At the same time, Porter screamed from his fourth-floor window, which he had broken earlier, and yelled that "they" were trying to take him.
Police made multiple attempts to speak with Porter through the locked and barricaded door, and when Officer Fernandez knocked on the door asking if the man needed any help, he kept screaming, "NO!"
After finding out about the suspect's state of mind, officers on the scene contacted the department's crisis intervention teams.
After the crisis response team spoke with Porter, officers relayed that he was holding a knife or a sharp piece of glass.
Despite hours of speaking with family, police and health professionals, Porter never opened the door.
At one point, after midnight, Porter stuck the knife though a hole in the damaged door in an alleged attempt to stab one of the tactical officers stationed at the scene.
After the incident, police deployed a chemical irritant to smoke Porter out of the room.
He left the hotel room wielding a large butcher-style knife. As he turned to the police lifting the knife above his head, an officer shot the man twice. He was shot with less-than-lethal sponge rounds.
All the officers on the scene were wearing body cams during the 20-hour confrontation. Out of the alleged hundreds of hours of combined footage, the police released 14 minutes of the altercation to show their proper procedure. An independent investigation of the shooting is still ongoing.