A Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officer on Saturday morning shot and killed a man who charged at the officer while the man held two butcher knives.
The incident happened during a routine traffic stop at Clarksville Pike and Ed Temple Boulevard, said MNPD spokesman Don Aaron at a press conference Saturday.
North Precinct MNPD Officer Christopher Royer’s body cam captured footage of the incident, which Aaron played at Saturday’s press conference.
Aaron said Royer was patrolling the area when he checked the license plate of a white late model Mercedes Sedan. The license plate, however, came back registered to a 1998 Green Chevrolet. Royer pulled the vehicle over to investigate.
“The driver presented no issues at any time, but the passenger immediately got out of the Mercedes with two large butcher knives, one in each hand, and began running around erratically,” Aaron said.
“Royer repeatedly told the man to drop the knives, even as he momentarily entered the driver’s door of Officer Royer’s police car.”
Body cam footage shows the driver of the Mercedes repeatedly asked his passenger what he was doing and told him to stop. Royer, meanwhile, backpedaled a distance of 25 yards away from his police car and repeatedly told the passenger that he did not want to have to shoot him. Royer then shot the passenger.
Aaron said the as-yet unidentified man died shortly after arriving at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He also said Royer is a four-year MNPD veteran. Per policy, Royer is now on administrative assignment as officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office investigate and analyze the incident, Aaron said.
MNPD Chief John Drake described the passenger’s behavior as “rather bizarre.”
“When I got the call, I had mixed emotions, especially with all that is going on around the nation and the city,” Drake said at Saturday’s press conference.
“No officer wants to deal with this type of situation as Royer encountered tonight. He did everything he could, I felt. He retreated. He asked the individual to drop the weapon several times. He continued charging at him [Royer], and he was left with no choice.”
After the shooting, Drake said five MNPD officers rendered aid to the unknown individual. He also said MNPD officers found drugs and marijuana at the scene, although he did not elaborate.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, a shootout at a Dollar General store hospitalized a MNPD officer and killed a 31-year-old woman. Police released body cam footage of the incident later that day.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
play stupid games win stupid prizes
Note to wack jobs: Don’t charge Police with butcher knives. This almost always leads to a bad ending.
Kudos to Nashville PD, for getting this out there before people can “spin” the facts!
This however is a a somewhat predictable situation. With inner city schools operating as daycare centers and teachers being expected to fill in as parental units, do we really expect kids to come out of public education with a positive path forward? Add the hype, no hysteria, being pumped out by the mainstream media about how “evil” law enforcement is, it’s no wonder that youngins feel hopeless!
Heck, if I can’t make it by putting a ball in a hole, like Lebron, or flashing my BIG *ss around like Kim, maybe I can gain fame, and “worth” by imitating George.
Time to get serious about inner city education, by dissolving the BIG public education model, and place smaller student-focused learning centers in local neighborhoods. Hire indigenous individuals as educators and administrators. Kind of like it was back in Colonial times, when most people could read, write and cipher.