Nina Culver
The Spokesman-Review
SPOKANE, Wash. — Newly released body camera video shows the tense minutes on May 6 when gunshots from an unseen gunman rang out after officers responded to a call for a suicidal man armed with a gun behind a North Side home.
By the end of the night Craig S. Burton had been shot once by Spokane police Officer Nick Spolski after firing his gun repeatedly and shouting at officers to “Do it!”
The video matches statements made by police after the shooting at 5527 N. Ash St., which indicated Burton fired several times before an officer fired once. The video was released Thursday in response to a public records request from The Spokesman-Review a week after the shooting.
Officers were called to Burton’s home by his girlfriend’s mother, who told police he was armed and possibly suicidal.
The body camera was worn by Officer Jake Jensen, who was positioned down the alley away from Spolski. The video opens with Jensen driving his patrol car to the scene and grabbing a shotgun and a bulletproof shield from his car before joining a group of three other officers at the south end of the alley behind the home.
Jensen loads his shotgun with less-lethal bean bag rounds. The officers stand near a white van as they whisper while putting together a plan. Several minutes of waiting and routine radio traffic pass until three shots ring out in quick succession. Jensen and his fellow officers run for cover and crouch behind a neighbor’s car.
Someone can be heard shouting “Do it!” and a voice is heard over the radio: “Get me the BearCat now. Roll it.” The BearCat is an armored personnel vehicle used by the SWAT team.
Three more shots are heard, then a pause, then three more quick shots followed by two slower shots.
“Watch your crossfire, guys,” says a voice on the radio. “Watch your crossfire.”
The gunshots apparently attracted the attention of a neighbor, who came outside. Officers yell at the resident to get back inside the house.
Several minutes go by as officers discuss the fact that they can’t see Burton because of the 6-foot fence around the backyard. During this time Jensen’s body camera doesn’t show much more than sounds and a view of the bulletproof shield he takes cover behind.
Jensen later wrote in his report that he did not attempt to verbally engage Burton “because I did not want to give away our location for the male to start shooting at.”
Then Jensen notices that the fence is shaking as if someone is climbing over it. “The fence is moving,” he says several times. “Watch that side.”
In the distance an officer can be heard shouting “Show me your hands!” A person presumed to be Burton shouts back, “Just … do it.”
“Let’s watch crossfire, guys,” Jensen says. A loud shot can be heard, then screaming.
Jensen, still concerned about the officers’ safety, appears ready for Burton to run down the alley.
“Get cover,” he says. “Get cover. If he comes here, smoke him.”
Another officer with a better view says, “He’s down on the ground. He’s rolling around.”
The voices from different officers come fast. “Hold. Hold. Stay behind cover. Don’t poke your head out.”
After the all-clear is sounded, Jensen and the other officers move to where Burton is on the ground, moaning loudly. Jensen cuts Burton’s sweatshirt off so other officers can apply chest seals to his entry and exit wounds. As officers and then paramedics help him, Burton says “I gotta pee” continuously.
The video ends after Jensen and other officers search the home where Burton was for shooting victims, finding little more than a friendly German shepherd who follows them from room to room.
Other officers stated in previously released court documents that they could see a gun in Burton’s hand when he came into the alley and he refused to put it down. Jensen wrote in his report that he was in fear for his life and the lives of the other officers.
The shooting is still under investigation by the Spokane Investigative Regional Response Team, led by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Burton has been charged with three counts of first-degree assault and is in the Spokane County Jail in lieu of $300,000 bond.
To see full 45 minute version of video click here.
Coypright 2015 The Spokesman-Review