The California Department of Justice announced an investigation Thursday into a shooting earlier this month in which a Bakersfield Police Department killed a man on White Lane.
Body-worn camera footage released Thursday shows two officers receiving a report March 18 of a man armed with a knife ”behaving erratically" in a White Lane shopping center. The man was identified as Guillermo Padron Huerta, 35.
The video shows that, after arriving at the scene, officers asked Huerta if he wants to drop the knife. They also asked him in the video, in both English or Spanish, if he would like help from the police.
Huerta walked away from police. Officers learned a little while later that Huerta had been in an altercation at a Fastrip on South H Street. After learning this, officers found Huerta again and noticed he had a possible knife, the video shows.
A chase began, with officers asking Huerta to drop the knife.
"Why'd you (expletive) following me?" Huerta asked in the video.
A taser was deployed as Huerta started to run away after officers, the footage shows. During the chase, officers reported Huerta was running in and out of the roadway.
An officer asked to see the man’s hands, but Huerta continued to run away, the video shows. The officer fired multiple times but Huerta still didn’t comply with orders, according to the video.
Huerta eventually stopped and was taken to the hospital. He died at Kern Medical.
The knife officers thought Huerta wielded was a screwdriver, according to the video.
The law known as Assembly Bill 1506 mandates that state officers investigate a shooting in which an unarmed civilian dies in a shooting by police.