Englewood police release video and audio from police fatal shooting of Christopher Michael Martinez
By: The Englewood Police Department released audio and video footage of the police shooting that occurred on March 18, when an Englewood officer shot and killed 34-year-old Christopher Michael Martinez.
The video does not include bodycam video from the officer who shot Martinez. This officer was reportedly not wearing a body-worn camera at the time of the incident, an April 10 press release from the department.
"The camera had been docked at the Englewood Police Department to download prior recorded incidents and was inadvertently left when the officer responded to calls for service," according to the release.
Department policy states that "body worn cameras shall be activated when responding to a call for service or during any interaction with the public initiated by the officer... for the purposes of enforcing the law or investigating possible violation of the law."
According to the Englewood Police Department’s original news release, the Englewood police were called to the Lucky U Motel, located at 4575 S. Broadway, at approximately 12:40 p.m. March 18.
In audio recordings released by the department, a caller says a male threatened to rob and shoot the caller and allegedly pointed a handgun at the caller.
The male then allegedly left the area on foot, carrying a handgun, the department said in its release.
"Due to the dangerous nature of the call for service and the high risk posed to the community, officers began searching the area for the suspect," Fender says in a voice-over in the edited video from the department.
The video shows an animated line on an aerial image of Broadway, tracing the path that officers allegedly chased the suspect northbound, across Broadway, into the Broadway-Lincoln alley and then northbound in the alley towards East Oxford Avenue.
Officers allegedly confronted the subject near the Pizza Hut at the corner of Broadway and East Oxford Avenue, where allegedly "Martinez fell to the ground and then pointed a gun at an officer," the press release says.
The officer then shot and killed Martinez. In the video, Fender says, "the officer used deadly physical force in defense of himself." No officers were injured during the incident.
“(Martinez) died of gunshot wound injuries and the death is classified as a homicide,” the coroner’s office said in a press release.
The moment of the shooting cannot clearly be seen in the video, as it is captured by the dash cam of a patrol car coming towards the scene. An officer can be seen with his gun drawn and gunshots are audible.
The video pauses at this point to zoom in, and a green circle highlights a handgun on the ground next to Martinez.
In the video, Fender says, "the officers on scene rendered medical aid to the suspect and requested an ambulance within moments of the shooting." These actions are not included in the video footage, so it is not clear when exactly aid was rendered.
The suspect was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died, per Fender's narration.