Newly released body camera footage captures the gruesome moment that a Florida sheriff's officer was shot in the face in a shooting that left a suspect dead last month.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer Taylor Smith was critically wounded in the April 18 incident. The bullet struck him in the head, traveling down to his chest, and he is recovering from the injury.
"He is truly blessed to have not been fatally injured in this shooting," Randy Reaves, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 5-30, told The Florida Times-Union. "Right now he is making what will hopefully be a full recovery."
The incident happened at around 9:30 a.m. when an off-duty sheriff's officer working at a hospital spotted a suspicious vehicle circling the parking lot. The officer tried to stop the vehicle in his cruiser, but the driver fled, and the officer was advised not to pursue because of safety considerations in the parking lot.
More officers responded to the hospital, and they unsuccessfully tried to stop the vehicle. At one point, the driver got behind a cruiser that had executed a failed PIT maneuver and rammed the officer's vehicle, pushing it forward before ramming another cruiser head-on and crashing into a pole.
In the video, Smith is seen approaching the passenger side of the Impala with his weapon out. Once he's close to the passenger rear door, the suspect opens fire, hitting Smith.
The officer returns fire and calls out to his colleagues. Five other officers begin shooting, killing the suspect.
"They did the right thing tonight," Sheriff T.K. Waters said at the time. "They made sure that individual did not go into the hospital where who knows what could have happened. We've all seen around the country some of the things that have happened in these types of situations."
