Bodycam Footage released showing North Branch police fatally shooting armed woman
By: Body-cam footage showing the moment officers fatally shot 36-year-old mother Jamie Ann Crabtree last month has been released by North Branch PD.
Crabtree was allegedly drunk, suicidal, and armed during the incident on June 27 when Officers Kyle Miller and Duane Southworth arrived at the scene.
The footage released this week shows the officers arrived to find Crabtree sitting on a patch of grass at 3rd Avenue and Elm Street, and ignored commands from both officers to drop her gun, at one point yelling, "I will not!"
Southworth is heard shouting, "Hey, put the gun..." before Miller yells out "PepperBall!" and fires several PepperBall rounds towards Crabtree, who screams. Southworth then opens fire with his rifle, with more than a dozen shots fired between the two officers.
The BCA investigation states that squad dashcam footage indicates Crabtree began to point a gun at the officers, though it's not clear from the bodycam video.
Crabtree fell on the ground, and for the following 15 minutes, officers kept telling her to "roll away" from her gun, which was by her side on the ground, and that they "wanted to help her." She is heard saying "it hurts," and "help me."
They finally approached her and found her lying on the grass, unsure of where she was shot, and placed her in handcuffs. The footage cuts off there.
She was later pronounced dead at Lakes Region Emergency Medical Services, and both officers were placed on leave.