CMPD Body Cam Video Released, Officers Shoot Man On Mental Health Call

CHARLOTTE, NC — Body camera video released Friday shows police shoot a man during a mental health call in East Charlotte.

It happened December 1, 2018, and the man survived.

“I can’t make out actually seeing a weapon. So, I can’t say he had a weapon on him at the time,” said Safe Coalition’s Robert Dawkins.

CMPD says Morgan had an Ekol Sava Magnum 9 mm PAK, a replica blank-firing pistol.

Although it is designed to look, sound, and operate just like a real firing weapon, it does not fire live ammunition.

Gun casings located at the scene were the blanks, meaning they contained gun powder but no projectile.

Morgan himself claimed to have a gun when he called 911 which is why officers showed up to his home on Winfield Dr.

“I have a gun on me, I have a legal to carry. I will not hit a female, but I will do something else to protect myself,” Morgan told the dispatcher.

A woman told 911 Morgan was having a mental health crisis.

“He has mental issues. He has no access to a gun,” said the woman.

A judge ordered CMPD to release three body camera clips.

Officers positioned outside say Morgan was shooting from inside the home.

Close to two minutes later- you hear a gunshot in the distance.

The officer behind the tree fires.

More than five minutes later, officers in a third clip say they see Morgan coming out the door.

They run toward him.

If you zoom in, you can see Morgan’s hands up. He falls to the ground.

They take a minute to get him handcuffed.

Morgan asks to go to the hospital.

CMPD says one officer out there on the scene was trained in Crisis Intervention Therapy.

“I need to see more of that. I think de-escalation is the key,” said Dawkins. Morgan got out of the hospital and was booked into jail January 5, 2019.

He’s out now.

In January, city council approved funding for CMPD to hire therapists to go with them on these type of calls.