OGDEN, UTAH (ABC 4 News) - Video released on Tuesday shows the chaos during a deadly police shootout in Ogden and it shows the suspected cop killer - Matthew David Stewart - handcuffed and being dragged to a cop car.
Back on January 4th, police went to Stewart's house at 3268 Jackson Avenue in Ogden to serve a search warrant. Police say Stewart began firing at officers - killing Jared Francom and wounding a half dozen other officers. This week police dash camera video has started to come out. The latest video comes from South Ogden and Riverdale Police.
As Riverdale and South Ogden officers barrelled toward the shootout - they heard the warnings over the police radio. One warning can be clearly heard over a speeding cruisers camera and audio system. "Be advised shots are being fired out in the area. All officers take cover. Don't come onto the scene." According to police - all kinds of thoughts rush through an officers head at a moment like this - but, Lt. James Ebert of Riverdale Police says one thought rises above the rest. "It reminds you what a close knit family law enforcement is. And we have a responsibility to take care of each other." That is why the sense of urgency behind the wheel and when officers jump out of their vehicles at the scene. In fact, in one of the police videos you see an officer jump out about a block away and lean on the hood of car with his gun aimed toward the action.
The new video also shows us a few things we did not see in the video released on Monday. We see a different angle of officers dragging officer Michael Rounkles to a police car to get him to the hospital. And we hear an officer yell out - "I need to know where Francom is." We also hear new police chatter like someone talking about clearing the house. "Don't let anybody in until we've got the house cleared." And we see, for the first time, officers dragging shooting suspect Matthew David Stewart to a cop car. They leave him laying on the pavement for about a minute. He moves only slightly in the video. Officers then pick him up and drag him to a waiting car and a nearby hospital. Stewart is in handcuffs and does not appear to have socks or shoes on.
We asked Lt. Ebert if the incident and the videos show any police mistakes or if the videos can help with training. He says he can't speak for other departments, but the videos show that his officers followed proper protocol. "There was nothing we saw that we saw that was a concern." And he says the video speaks for itself. "The video clearly shows the traumatic event. I don't think you can add anything more powerful than what is in the video."
