Police release body cam footage of downtown shooting

The Spokane Police Department has released body camera footage showing the shooting of Charlston Harper outside of a downtown Spokane bar last year.

During a news conference Thursday, Capt. Brad Arleth and Lt. Steve Wohl went over the footage in detail, including reading the report of the officer who shot Harper with a bullet in his right side, wounding him. The yearlong investigation of the shooting concluded in April, when the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office opted not to file charges.

Fifteen videos were released showing the moments leading up to and after the shooting. Footage captured from officer Beau Brannon shows officers surrounding Harper, who was wielding a machete and appeared to be acting erratically outside of Zola on West Main Avenue on May 1, 2016 – the day before Bloomsday.

As multiple officers approach with their weapons drawn, Harper asks them multiple times to shoot and kill him. Arleth said it’s normal in situations like these for officers to draw lethal and nonlethal weapons, in case the nonlethal options are ineffective.

“Just kill me,” Harper says in the video. “Go ahead.”

Officers reason with Harper for several minutes, telling him to “relax” and that they’re “not going to do that.” At one point, an officer attempts to deploy a Taser, but both prongs fail to hit.

Wohl said while officers were speaking to Harper, other officers were working to clear Zola, which was busier than usual that night. Officers feared Harper might take the staircase near the bar entrance and access apartments on the second floor.

About 20 minutes after the standoff begins, Harper opens the front doors and begins walking backward, his arms outstretched.

“Shoot me,” Harper says.

An officer responds, “Don’t do it,” referring to Harper walking inside.

As Harper turns and enters the first set of doors and moves toward Zola, what sounds like seven or eight shots ring out in quick succession.

According to police affidavits, three officers fired “less-lethal” beanbag and 40mm blue plastic projectiles that hit Harper multiple times. But one officer, Scott Lesser, fired four rounds from his M-4 rifle – one of which hit Harper in the right side near his hip and remains lodged near his spine.

In the video, police rush inside as Harper yells, “I’m down. I’m down,” before wailing in pain.

While police render aid, Harper asks them to let him die.

“Why did y’all do this to me?” Harper asks. “My back, my back, my back.”

Quoting Lesser’s report written after the shooting, Wohl said the officer “feared for the safety of anyone inside the bar and in the apartments” when he saw Harper turn to go inside.

“I knew once he turned the corner from the front doors that officers would lose sight of him,” Wohl said. “At this point, I had no choice or alternative than to fire lethal rounds to stop the male from entering further into the building.”

Lesser wrote in his report that he could tell the less-lethal rounds were not effective in stopping Harper, prompting him to discharge his weapon. According to the video, the seven or eight shots are fired in the span of about three seconds. Police said Lesser may not have been wearing a body camera, since he is part of the Patrol Anti-Crime Team.

Officer Lesser was one of four officers involved in the shooting death of 40-year-old Danny Jones in 2013. The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office declined to bring charges against the officers.

Last year, Jones’ family sued Lesser and the other officers involved, former Police Chief Frank Straub and the city of Spokane in a federal lawsuit that is pending in U.S. District Court.

Harper, who remains in Spokane County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail on charges of harassment and armed burglary, was critical during a jailhouse interview Thursday of Lesser’s decision to discharge lethal rounds.

“Why would you fire a live round while others are using bean bags?” Harper said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

The 35-year-old said he doesn’t remember much from that night, other than being “shocked into consciousness” after feeling the pain from the bean bags and gunshot. He attributes the episode with police to his long history with mental illness.

According to a mental health evaluation conducted by Dr. William Grant for Harper’s upcoming trial, Harper is schizophrenic, with “antisocial personality features.” The doctor determined Harper was fit to stand trial, but noted that he “hallucinates” and sometimes his “hallucinations are intrusive.”

“It’s 24/7 of hearing voices,” Harper said Thursday. “Never getting time to myself, never being in my own head without anyone else being in there.”

Harper said doctors told him the bullet lodged in his back couldn’t be removed. It’s been causing him regular pain, he said, and the jail gives him medication but it isn’t strong enough to rid it completely.

While he awaits trial, which has been pushed back from it’s original date this month, he said that evening still haunts him.

“There was injustice,” he said. “There was no way they should have shot me. Especially with a real gun.”

Harper has a short criminal history, including being charged with assault in 2006 for throwing a knife at another man during a fight in Riverfront Park. In 2015, he was accused of assaulting firefighters attempting to treat him on the Maple Street Bridge, but was found not guilty last year.