Bodycam shows struggle with suspect and Tulsa officer before officer and suspect being shot
By: Newly released body camera video shows what happened that led up to a Tulsa Police Officer and a suspect being shot.
Tulsa Police say both the Officer and suspect made a full recovery.
Retired Tulsa Police Officer Tim O’Keefe says that’s because of training and quick thinking.
What started as a traffic stop in August escalated into a life-threatening confrontation, leaving both an officer and the suspect injured.
Body and dash cam video gives a glimpse at the challenges' law enforcement officers face daily and the complexities of using lethal force.
Police say it started when a Field Training Officer (FTO) and a rookie Officer-In-Training (OIT) made a traffic stop.
It was the rookie's first day.
This stop takes a turn after police say the suspect, Edward Pulley, resisted arrest and tried to draw a gun.
The graphic video, released by the Tulsa Police Department, shows the struggle, leading to a gunshot that wounded both Pullet and the FTO.
To gain insights into the challenges officers face in the aftermath of similar incidents, we spoke with News On 6’s Assignment Editor, Tim O'Keefe, who is a retired police officer.
“They want to make sure that you’re mentally prepared to get back out there again. You don’t want to be paranoid that everyone is out to get you,” O’Keefe said. “You have to have situational awareness every time, but you don’t want to be out there going, ‘okay, this went bad last time, it’s going to go bad this time,’ and start trying to anticipate bad things happening to you.”
O’Keefe says he’s been in situations that ended with the use of lethal force, and believes the District Attorney ruling the officer's use of force was justified was the right call.
“If it goes the other way, it makes us think about the training that we received,” O’Keefe said. “It makes us think about the administration sometimes because it was the training I received, and I used it the way that I was supposed to, then they come back and say ‘no, this isn’t what we wanted.’ That puts the officer in a pretty bad situation.”
O’Keefe says it’s video like this that prompts reflection on law enforcement training and the impact on those who serve and protect our communities.
This week, Pulley pleaded guilty to assault and battery, resisting arrest, and other charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month.