Raw: Dash cam video and audio of Seattle police officer involved shooting

thinkpink4733 said on January 14, 2012 at 12:20 PM

Looked to me like the woodcarver was simply walking minding his own business when the punk cop yelled at him a couple times and then started shooting. From the video I just saw, I'd say this was a cold blooded murder.

changeamerica123 said on February 22, 2011 at 5:15 PM

Notice how callous the lady walking by the police car is only seconds after this poor man has been murdered by supercop right before her eyes. Maybe if there were some dramatic music in the background or a dazzling cast of charcters she would understand the gravity of the situation. She doesn't even have a flight relfex or realize she just heard a firearm discharge six times. That is disturbing. It is sickening how desensitized we have allowed ourselves to become over a blatant murder on a public street in broad daylight. Just another news story on the way to the next sitcom. It doesn't make a bit of differnece if it doesn't involve us or a member of our family. right??? Wrong! I would estimate we have a few years, maybe a few months to correct this behavior in those who cliam to govern us or else we will all be in the crosshairs. While you check on your portfolio today make sure to buy some lead, still the worlds most precious metal. You may need it sooner than you think.

ohemgee said on February 17, 2011 at 11:16 AM

I stumbled across this story on CNN. Coming from a conservative background with family members who have served I tend to support the police. They have a terribly difficult job to do and frequently not enough support from the community. This though, this is horrible. Shocking. I am stunned that no one is going to hold that policeman responsible for his abuse of power. Wow. No offense meant but but I'm really glad I don't live in your city. My heart goes out to the family of the poor man he murdered.

feverwannabe said on January 19, 2011 at 2:42 AM

I told him to chuck it a couple times and he would no do it..he told one of the officers there and he saud good job..what the hell..This cop killer shot this guy in cold looded murder peroid..They wonder why so many officers get shot at coffie shops and other places...well when you have a officer that does this and will more than likely get off that could lite a fuse for some insane persons to do something stupid again and that would be a sad day ..to me looking at the video and the victim was calmly walking across the street minding his own buisness carving and this officer gets out of his cruiser and already has his gun drawn before he gets to the walkway then he warns him two to 3 times then bam bam bam bam bam bam emptying the whole clip on a man that was only carrying a pin knife comeon..alittle over kill but that is the way they are trainned ya right...

juancarlos said on January 11, 2011 at 12:06 AM

I hope he rots in jail for the rest of his life. This is another case of police brutality. Thank God for this video -- these cops are bored because there weren't much action going on and they create situations where they can show their skills and on their minds it keeps them sharp!!! A guy like this shouldn't even have a gun with him. He only gave him 5 SECONDS to drop the knife. Put him in JAIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

screamingflower said on December 21, 2010 at 8:24 AM

Why isn't this cop in jail??? He murdered a human being in broad daylight and in front of many witnesses! I am sick of all the news agencies referring to Mr. Williams as a local chronic inebriate. Is this to make the cop feel better about murdering him???He was a human being, minding his own business, and he was shot down like a dog in the street. And now I have seen the video, even more despicable. This wasn't even this cops beat, he was from W. Seattle, and should have called for back up before he even got out of his car to murder Mr. Williams. It probably could have been diffused before it all began if he had made a quick call. Mr. Williams wan not going anywhere fast. The murderer cop should be sitting in jail!!!

harley521 said on December 21, 2010 at 1:40 AM

In the video we can see the man walking with something in his hands....If he was carving: since when is it illegal to carve on a piece of wood? Why did the officer get out of his car to yell at the guy? Was the guy intimindating anyone? Was he threatening anyone? Was he threatening the cop? The cop forced the confrontation he anyone did. This is a classic case of gestopo tactics. I am leggally armed and will not be intimindated by anyone, not even a cop. I know what LEGAL and LAWFUL orders of police officer are and can be. Being a cop can be dangeerous but for what reason is there for any cop to CAUSE a confrontation. I thought we still lived in AMERICA.

floydbearchild said on December 20, 2010 at 11:33 PM

The women who was walking in front of him had no fear of Mr Williams, the women that came across the street from south to north had no fear as well. if the 1st women had any fear for her life, why did she not run towards the cowboy in the cop car?one thing that is clear, the cowboy that climbed out of the cop car had intentions to do harm on the Native male. it don't take that many shot's to take down a person and regardless of what some may think, Mr Williams was a person and that cowboy killed him in broad daylight. not to even taking in to consideration of the other people in the street. what if a stray bullet hit that lady walking in front of Mr Williams? The Cowboy is guilty of Murder. the Cowboy needs to spend do his time in prison for his actions. it is time that the cops pay for their actions and not just lose their job. life for a life. when a person is given the power to protect and abuse's that power,, life for a life or these cop killing and beatings will never end.

porkroll said on December 20, 2010 at 5:18 PM

Murderer.

dimar said on December 20, 2010 at 4:47 PM

ok, i was all set to give this officer the benefit of the doubt. but watching this video shows someone who was looking for an altercation. the gentleman shot was meekly crossing the road, not looking like a threat at all, then the bully cop goes on the attack. i'm in tears. it's so shameful.

seabeckrob said on December 20, 2010 at 4:40 PM

Yes, we just witnessed a murder by a thoughtless punk with a badge. Unfortunately a lot of the police officers nowdays are no more than a bunch of cowboys with guns & badges. They give decent officers a bad name. In the interest of justice the officer should get as good as he gave - five rounds! THERE IS NO EXCUSE!!

bikersbaby said on December 20, 2010 at 4:37 PM

John Williams was murdered by another gun happy Seattle Cop.. in cold blood.... Officer Birk is guilty of shooting a citizen in cold blood. and how the heck do you walk down the street and carve wood at the same time ? Birk had his hand on his sidearm when he got out of the car.....man oh man... sad state of affairs when you cant even cross a street without a cop shooting you ! hang the SOB !!!!

tuckerfinley said on December 20, 2010 at 12:57 PM

Based on what I saw and from experience, the victim did not seem to be much of a threat to anyone. At this point we dont know if he had threatened someone down the street or had attacked someone with the knife prior to coming into contact with the officer. It seems to me that the victim was minding his own business, trying to be productive while out running errands or just exercising, we just do not know at this point what the old fellow was up to. But I have to say, that IF he had not threatend or attacked anyone, and did not advance on the officer in a threatening manner, we all have just witnessed a murder.

karen225 said on December 20, 2010 at 12:22 PM

At the end you can hear him say he had that knife out an was carving up that piece of wood. We could see you had the gun out. I could see an old man going down the street carving!!!! Let me guess command an control not protect an serve. An you guys wonder why we do not trust you. An if the police get the wrong house they shoot the dog even if it is small. I am not going for this new way they have of doing things. An as a younger person would have trust but now that I am 60 I have no trust In the police.

freemonttroll said on December 20, 2010 at 11:25 AM

What is interesting to me is the lady crossing the street, when she's about halfway through the intersection, Birk is yelling "Hey Hey Put the knife down". She doesn't break stride or appear to even notice, heck, she may not have even heard him. It's not until the 2nd shot that she actually reacts. If she was so slow to react, how would Williams be able to react so much quicker?

atkinsonv said on December 20, 2010 at 6:29 AM

Birk's body language says he was looking for action. He wanted to shoot, no doubt about it. The other officer's comment says what we all are thinking, " You killed him because he JUST had a knife?" Birk should never serve the public in the capacity as a police officer or any position where he is issued a weapon of any kind. Sad thing is there is no way he will be reprimanded for his actions. He will however have some explaining to do when his day of final judgement comes.

bigdave55 said on December 18, 2010 at 5:31 PM

While I am a big supporter for law enforcement, I cannot understand this achieving such an end so quick. I understand the Officer yelled drop the knife 4 times loudly but from what I am not so sure the man with a knife was advancing on him and I understand the Tuller Drill where a man can travel 21 feet in the amount of time one can draw their weapon, this individual does not seem he could cover this distance to be a clear and present danger. This is a shame, to bad there is not better information being shown.

freedomthinker said on December 18, 2010 at 1:37 PM

hang him!

psychmasters said on December 18, 2010 at 12:55 PM

Given what happened Nov. 29, 2009, Law Enforcement Officers are more cautious. Officer Birk didn't have to stand back and yell atMr. Williams to put the knife down, what if there had been another individual close by and Mr. Williams grabbed that individual? Looking at bothe sides of the situation will occur and an investigation will be conducted. If Officer Birk is guilty of wrong doing, actions will be taken so this not happeneagain. Until you have walked in their shoes it is not correct to pass judgment. Also, no one saw what happened. How can you pass judgment if you didn't witness the confrontation? Please with the amount of officers killed in the past year, everyone is taking their own survival very strong.

abb1a said on December 18, 2010 at 11:32 AM

Inexcusable. Brik has no reason to shoot him, Williams was minding his own business and wasn't being violent in any way to anyone.

abb1a said on December 18, 2010 at 11:29 AM

Inexcusable. Birk had no reason to shoot him, Williams wasn't being violent with it; he was just minding his own business.

musicfreak said on December 18, 2010 at 10:38 AM

I'm usually on the side of the police. But this? This was inexcusable. That man was doing *nothing* to warrant even being approached by the officer. And it took all of, I believe, 5 seconds from the first "hey" to the shots being fired. No excuse at all. This cop needs taken off the streets, period.

drcyclops said on December 18, 2010 at 5:32 AM

@richards54629218; Because out of boredom, Birk was trying to goad him into a confrontation, thereby (in his tiny little reptilian brain) giving him justification to shoot him. What Birk was thinking beforehand, "God I'm bored. I got to find a way to use my gun, and get off. Dammit, I should have gone to the firing range this week!"

drcyclops said on December 18, 2010 at 5:22 AM

Watch out! Just walk down the street, mind your own business, and because you're minding your own business (or because of your ethnicity, and disability), get shot dead (IN THE BACK!)by a cowardly civil servant, who swore "To protect and serve" (the following must be unwritten for a reason "To protect and serve, and whenever possible ones own cowardly self!") I mean is it called the thin yellow line (it must be), or "The thin blue line."

djseattle said on December 18, 2010 at 2:21 AM

murder in broad daylight. KING 5 NEWS, please keep us (the community) informed on what we can do to stop this officer from killing an innocent person again.

rustyrebel said on December 18, 2010 at 2:09 AM

Murderer. Accomplices. Filth.

shynden661218941 said on December 18, 2010 at 1:34 AM

murder, plain and simple

shan79marie said on December 18, 2010 at 12:47 AM

The "suspect" was clearly carving on a board as he crossed the street. Why did the officer even bother to confront him?

richards54629218 said on December 18, 2010 at 12:45 AM

More observation, officer clearly seen that he had a knife, the reason he shot William's was because he was a threat. Now the only way a knife can be a threat to anyone is if someone is close enough to throw it or lunge at you, why would he run up so close to the man to put himself in that position, why wouldn't you keep your distance and holler? When has it ever been standard police procedure in United States of America to shoot someone when they don't even know that they are a threat to anybody or anything? Have you ever been downtown Seattle and heard somebody screaming at someone else? The first thought is it's not me that's good for about 2 1/2 seconds, so now you got a second and half to figure ou life-and-death and what to do.................................... This is truly a scary thought!

richards54629218 said on December 18, 2010 at 12:28 AM

More observation assuming Williams had perfect hearing but there was a language barrier and he didn't speak English. How many people downtown Seattle are walking the streets that don't speak English there's a lot of them. I know if I heard someone hollering in Spanish the command to put the knife down and since I wasn't doing anything illegal or threatenin and 4 seconds I would be dead too. What about the homeless they'll wander the streets of Seattle that are truly crazy you see him on the busses,under the the streetlights talking to themselves and their completely out of it, try yelling at them to put the knife down, there not even on the same planet they to would be shot dead in 4 seconds too At first officer claimed Williams was coming at him but the autopsy clearly showed all bullets entered his side no shots were from the front., Later that statement was withdrawn. I am not sure a completely normal person in 4 seconds would respond every time to save their life,are you sure?

richards54629218 said on December 18, 2010 at 12:13 AM

Some observations what has happened so far. The officer clearly had indemnifie what Williams was doing with a knife which was carving. It is not illegal to have a open knife. There are 100 reason why someone would have a knife open if they are not threatening anybody that is just a tool, example removing a sliver, cleaning your nails, using a blade to dig something out with. I carry a leather men which has a knife blade and I use it all the time why would anyone think I was a threat to society if I'm simply using a knife as a tool. Officer never identified himself as a policeman, since Williams is walking away, even if he could've hear the command he would think it was just another person hollering in the streets which is common, watch the lady crossing the street, she's not even paying attention to what's happenin because there is no threat the real-time is not 7 second it's 4 second from the first time he sadi put the knife down.

alex206 said on December 18, 2010 at 12:05 AM

I hope this sorry excuse for a Seattle policeman gets locked up for at least 30 years. Nice way to ruin your life, moron. Sure, John T. Williams was a trouble maker judging from the other videos weve seen, but come on, he is old, slow, malnutritioned, and deaf. I highly doubt the officer feared for his life. This situation could have been handled differently, like with a taser or pepper spray.

sarah_s said on December 17, 2010 at 10:37 PM

@michwur I agree 100%!! I hope the officer has to pay back every cent of paid leave he is receiving if found guilty of ANYTHING!! He should be fed to the wolves, this poor man was just doing his everyday routine and 7 seconds later, you are dead. I just can't believe it only took that officer 7 seconds to decide to end someone's life. Maybe he should be overseas and just send him into the front lines with a gun and just tell him to start shooting, since he is so quick on the trigger!

sarah_s said on December 17, 2010 at 10:32 PM

rh5636-I'm not going by the movies or TV.....Now that I think about it, why not have used pepper spray or a taser? And you don't have to be a sharp shooter to shoot a frickin hand or leg.....And the warning shot, yes it would have to go somewhere, like the foot maybe...I'm just saying there has to be a better way to have handled this.....you are going to wait for their "investigation?" We all know how that goes, I do hope the jury doesn't have your views on believing them, because they will say it was "protocol" and we stand behind our officer, "anyone one of us would have done the same." All I know is a knife like that would not close by falling on the ground, which most likely he closed when he turned around...This is a typical egotystical cop pulling a trigger. You can hear a WITNESS say, he didn't do anything.....Yeah he may not have complied right away, but he was practically deaf, so where is your argument there? You can clearly hear just by the video, 7 seconds..dead....sad!

michwur said on December 17, 2010 at 8:14 PM

He didn't do anything. I can't believe it. I've been wanting to see it so I could form my own opinion. Even the cop who did the shooting said the guy was carving a piece of wood with the knife. He wasn't using the knife to threaten or harm anyone. He was a simple Wood Carver for Pete's sake. And when the cop said for him to drop the knife, only a few seconds passed before the cop started shooting. The victim was probably trying to understand what all the fuss was about. You know how it is when someone says something to you, but you don't realize they're talking to you, and so you turn around to see what's what, and that's what this guy did, and the cop shoot him before the guy could ask what was up. Sheesh. I wish I was on the jury, so I could make sure that Wood Carver's family gets justice.

rh5636 said on December 17, 2010 at 8:02 PM

@sarah_s: You need to forget about what you see on television and movies about warning shots or shooting a subject in the hand or leg. Police Officers are trained to shoot where they are most likely to hit and neutralize a threat. Shooting in the hand or leg is something only a sharpshooter could do from a fixed position. As for that bit about a warning shot, if an officer were to ever discharge a firearm for that purpose, the bullet would have to go somewhere, where would you have it go, into a person blocks away, a window of a business, a car????? That's why 'warning shots' are for TV and not real life. As for this case specifically, I'm going to let the fact-finding apparatus of the King County Prosecutor's Office and the police department's own internal review process determine what all the facts are. I'm not going to make any judgments based on my own personal views, innuendo, or conjecture.

klouhoiuhyoiuhyo said on December 17, 2010 at 7:56 PM

Thats the best we can get to protect us? Cops congratulating one another for murder? Sad,,, sad and disgraceful.

double_h said on December 17, 2010 at 7:36 PM

This man is pure scum. I hope he rots in a prison cell.

sarah_s said on December 17, 2010 at 7:27 PM

Yeah that poor man looked so menacing......sarcasm

sarah_s said on December 17, 2010 at 7:24 PM

This is what I was talking about from my posts this morning about ANOTHER officer involved shooting. From what I can see and hear, the man was just carving, which last time I checked woodcarvers do, and the officer WAY over exagerrated. Was that many shots necessary if the officer felt threatned, ever heard of shooting the hand, leg, somewhere other than killing them? I'm sure a warning shot would have shook the man up pretty bad. Another life lost to a police shooting, so sad. We need to get to get the officers out of the departments that have issues and need to prove they are a big man....sorry, but come on, you know they are there

peterh said on December 17, 2010 at 6:52 PM

Seems like the officer overreacted based on what I heard here.