Nate Gartrell
East Bay Times
PITTSBURG — The city’s police department released officer body camera footage showing police arresting a man who allegedly stabbed an officer in the neck last Monday.
The camera is not pointed at the suspect when he allegedly stabbed the officer, who was later treated for non-life threatening injuries. But the video released Thursday afternoon does show a knife in the suspect’s hands moments after the officer was cut.
“He stabbed me,” the officer can be heard yelling. “He (expletive) stabbed me.”
Reached by phone Thursday, police Chief Brian Addington said the officer is recovering from his injury. He said the officers’ actions were “very heroic” and that they had shown “extreme constraint.”
“This could have ended much worse,” Addington said.
The suspect, 33-year-old Mark Mora, was charged this week with assault with a deadly weapon as well as resisting arrest, police said. Officers were first called to the scene after Mora allegedly tried to stab his father through the screen door of their home.
When police arrived, Mora was standing in the intersection of West 17th Street and Mildred Avenue. Officers negotiated with him for nearly an hour.
In the roughly 90-second video, Mora can be seen protesting while officers attempt to convince him to surrender. At one point an officer asks him to sit down and he refuses.
“This is the Fourth Amendment,” Mora yells. A few seconds later he begins emptying his pockets, ignoring officers’ commands to stop, then takes out the knife.
“Put the knife down!” one officer yells. Another readies a gun that shoots rubber projectiles and says, “Just say the word, sarge.” The officer shoots the rubber projectile but Mora stays on both his feet as the officers advance.
In the next few seconds, the video is partially obscured, but shows an officer deploying a stun gun while a police K9 dog bites Mora. Several officers then tackle him.
As officers attempt to pull the knife from his hands, an officer can be heard yelling, “He stabbed me,” and “My neck!”
According to public records, Mora has been arrested by Pittsburg police at least a dozen times since 2015. In addition to several probation violations, he has prior arrests for vehicle theft, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, as well as petty theft and drug possession.
Pittsburg police have released body camera footage several times in the past, including of fatal officer involved shootings. A police news release says the footage of Mora was released “in a continued effort to foster transparency and trust with our community.”
“We hope the footage related to this incident gives the community a better understanding of what happened,” the news release says. “We are thankful that the officer and the man were not seriously hurt.”
The video can be seen below. It contains profanity:
———
©2019 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)