Video shows Burger King shooting that killed suspect, injured IMPD officer
By: Recently released footage shows what led up to an October incident where a trespassing suspect was shot and killed inside a Burger King after grabbing an Indy police officer’s gun and shooting him in the leg.
On Friday, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department released a Critical Incident Video that included edited body-worn camera footage and security video from an Oct. 26 incident where a man was shot and killed after firing at an officer’s leg with an IMPD-issued gun.
The incident, IMPD said at the time, began around 5:50 p.m. after officers were called to the intersection of E. 21 Street and N. Shadeland Avenue on Indy’s east side for a trespassing investigation.
PAST: Suspect killed, IMPD officer injured in shooting on Indy’s east side
Per previous reporting, IMPD said an officer saw a man he recognized as 37-year-old Frederick Davis trespassing at a nearby business called The Rodeway Inn. In the video released Friday, the IMPD officer can be seen telling Davis to put his hands on a squad car.
Instead, Davis can be seen walking away and arguing with the officer before the officer chases the suspect off the Rodeway Inn property. Davis then is seen running on foot into the street, and the officer does not pursue him on foot.
IMPD said officers then began searching for Davis, who reportedly was banned from several businesses in the area. Around this time, according to police, an employee of a nearby Burger King flagged down officers and said the man they were looking for was inside the restaurant.
In the edited bodycam footage released Friday, Officer Nicolas Deem and a fellow officer are seen entering the Burger King and immediately finding Davis near the bathrooms. The video shows that while trying to arrest Davis, a struggle ensued and all three men fell to the ground.
It is around this time that IMPD says Davis was able to gain control of Ofc. Deem’s service weapon and shot the officer in the right leg. While Davis cannot clearly be seen firing the gun in the bodycam footage, a fired shot can be heard just after the suspect says “I’m about to die.”
Furthermore, a section of IMPD’s Critical Incident Video pauses and highlights moments of bodycam and security footage where Davis is seen grabbing and holding the officer’s weapon after firing. That can be seen below:
Bodycam footage then shows Ofc. Deem reach for his backup service weapon and fire four consecutive shots at Davis, striking the suspect. Davis is then seen running out of the restaurant before tripping and falling in the parking lot as the second IMPD officer chases him.
The second officer can then be heard radio signaling that a “police action shooting” has occurred, before rolling Davis onto his stomach and handcuffing him.
Soon after this, Ofc. Deem is shown standing up, grabbing his firearm from the floor of the restaurant, and running outside. He can later be heard requesting medics for himself and Davis, and then asking the Burger King employees standing outside if they were okay.
IMPD says officers then provided Davis with medical aid until IEMS showed up and took him to Eskenazi Hospital, where he later died.
While Ofc. Deem can be heard downplaying his gunshot wound as a graze wound in bodycam footage, IMPD later said he suffered injuries more significant than previously thought. Ofc. Deem, according to the department, has significant bullet fragments in his leg, with some fragments expected to stay in his leg forever.
No other officers or uninvolved citizens were injured in the incident.