The Cranston Police Department has released the bodycam footage that shows a female police officer, identified as Kayleigh Cooper, shooting at two suspected shoplifters who were unarmed and trying to get away in a car.
The incident happened after Officer Kayleigh Cooper received a call about shoplifting at Garden City Center on Sunday.
She caught up with the suspects at a red light stop on Reservoir Avenue, south of the on-ramp to Route 10, shortly after 5:20 p.m. on Sunday, walked up to a man and a woman inside a car, and immediately ordered the driver to shut the car off.
She proceeded to immediately open the door and ordered the occupants to get out of the car.
“What’re you doing…”, the man feigning bewildered asked. “Ma’am, get away from my car”, he added.
The officer pulls out her gun, and he quickly closes the door and zooms off, while she fires a single shot at the car.
The 24-year-old driver, and the passenger, a 24-year-old woman, were later captured by U.S. Marshals, Massachusetts State Police, and Boston Police on Tuesday.
Watch the video below:
The police department had initially claimed that the officer was assaulted and that the car ran over her foot as the suspects were fleeing.
Though from the video, the officer seemed not to be in personal danger that would warrant the use of a firearm/deadly force, viewers have been cautioned against making immediate judgment and to allow the investigation by the state police and the office of Attorney General Peter F. Neronha to take its full course.
