Video: New Orleans Police Exchange Gunfire with Fleeing Suspect

Nov. 18, 2021
Body camera footage released by the New Orleans Police Department shows officers in a 52-second shootout with an armed suspect earlier this year.

By Missy Wilkinson

Source The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

Body camera footage from a shootout between New Orleans police and a man in the St. Roch neighborhood earlier this month showed an armed man fleeing police, exchanging gunfire with cops and getting arrested.

The NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau released the footage Wednesday. Dante Frazier, 42, who was arrested Nov. 6 fter allegedly pulling the gun on officers, sustained a gunshot wound to the right foot. No other injuries or deaths were reported during the 52-second exchange of gunfire, when at least 25 shots were fired in a residential neighborhood.

Police responded to a call from EMS at 10:39 p.m. Nov. 6. A man, later identified as Frazier, was passed out in his vehicle in the turn lane at St. Claude and Franklin avenues. When paramedics arrived, they found Frazier unresponsive, with a .22-caliber, modified AR-style pistol in the passenger seat, according to New Orleans police. Police said they believed Frazier was impaired, but they don't know what substances he'd consumed.

EMS called police. Before officers got there, Frazier woke up and crashed his car into a pole on the neutral ground.

The body camera footage largely aligned with earlier descriptions of the incident from police. The short video shows officers arriving on the scene. Frazier attempted to flee in his wrecked vehicle, which can be heard making distressed sounds. He pulled into a gas station and got out of the car. Officer Rukeene Jones told Frazier, "Let me see your hands," and Frazier briefly complied before bending over and fleeing north down Music Street.

Police said Frazier raised his weapon at Jones, though this is not part of the edited video. Over the next 52 seconds, Frazier exchanged gunfire with Jones and officer Jason Adams, with Frazier shooting at least 9 rounds, Jones shooting 9 rounds and Adams shooting 7 rounds.

Police established a perimeter, and 15 minutes after the initial contact, Jones found Frazier under a house near Music and Marais streets. After he was cuffed in the police car, Frazier realized he had been shot in the foot.

Police said they believe there's a high probability the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. Police are investigating whether Frazier's gun was involved in another crime.

Frazier was discharged from a hospital the next morning and arrested for two counts of aggravated assault against a peace officer. According to Louisiana court reports, Frazier was convicted on three counts of armed robbery in 2002.

The shooting remains under investigation by the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau, which will review body camera footage as a part of the probe, police said. The NOPD released this footage to the media in accordance with its policy regarding critical use-of-force incidents.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is asked to contact the NOPD's Public Integrity Bureau Force Investigation Team at (504) 658-6800.

Gabriella Killett contributed to this report.

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