Tennessee sheriff caught on bodycam laughing about order to kill unarmed suspect

The suspect was in a vehicle, and when deputies announced on the radio that they intended to ram his vehicle to end the chase, the sheriff overruled them and ordered the unarmed suspect killed because the sheriff didn't want to "tear up my cars":

Quote:

Shoupe arrived on the scene shortly after police had shot Dial at the conclusion of a low-speed chase, clearly upset he had missed the excitement. “I love this ****,” Shoupe said, apparently unaware that his comments were being picked up by another deputy’s body-worn camera. “God, I tell you what, I thrive on it. “If they don’t think I’ll give the damn order to kill that ************ they’re full of ****,” he added, laughing. “Take him out. I’m here on the damn wrong end of the county,” he said. Shoupe’s comments have prompted a federal lawsuit from Dial’s widow, Robyn Dial, alleging the use of excessive force against her late husband, who was unarmed. Police had initially attempted to pull Dial over in April last year for driving on a suspended licence. He drove away, but the fact that he was driving a 40-odd-year-old pickup truck with a fully loaded trailer severely restricted his speed. DeKalb County deputies, who began the pursuit before White County deputies took over, told investigators it was “more like a funeral procession” than a highway chase, with speeds topping out around 50mph. Deputies tried using a PIT (Pursuit Intervention Technique) maneuver to slow Dial’s car, a common police tactic involving a police car nudging another vehicle to turn it sideways. But Shoupe radioed officers to tell them to stop attempting to do that, instead ordering them to shoot the driver. When a deputy had successfully nudged Dial off the road, Reserve Deputy Adam West, who was in pursuit in his own personal vehicle, fired three shots as the vehicle went down into a ditch. Dial died of a gunshot wound to the head.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2E8gzqp