Female officer’s job in question after suspect wrestles away her gun, is shot by second officer

Stunning police bodycam footage shows the moment a female officer, whose gun had been stolen, was saved by a fellow officer.

The incident occurred in Fountain Valley, California, on Jan. 24 after the police received a report about a man who’d “attempted to pull open the door of a woman’s car near Masuda Middle School,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Released just this week, the bodycam footage began with a male officer stopping the suspect, 26-year-old Osean McClintock, and asking him to take a seat.

Instead of sitting down, McClintock took off while screaming, “in Jesus’ name, I pray forever,” leading to a chase during which the first officer fell significantly behind the suspect and told other nearby officers via radio to let him go if they see him.

Watch:

McClintock, meanwhile, ran into another cop as she was seated in her cruiser. Instead of letting him go, she pulled a gun on him while seated. He, in turn, reached for the gun, prompting a back-and-forth tussle that concluded with him having the gun in his possession.

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The second officer then screamed, “Please don’t shoot me” as she exited the car and tried to get some distance between herself and McClintock.

As this occurred, the first officer finally arrived on the scene, demanded McClintock drop the gun, and then opened fire on him as he entered the second officer’s cruiser.

Watch the second officer’s bodycam footage below:

While McClintock was killed during the melee, both officers survived.

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University of South Carolina professor Geoffrey Alpert, an expert on deadly force, told the Associated Press that the second officer’s decision to pull a gun on the suspect while she was seated put her in a “very vulnerable situation.”

Critics on social media agreed, with many outright accusing the second officer — the female officer — of being totally unprepared and unequipped for the job at hand.

Some critics also alleged that women aren’t suited for the role of a police officer.

Look:

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As for McClintock’s family, they claim that he’d still be alive if the police hadn’t drawn their weapons.

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“They put themselves in a very dangerous situation,” his sister, Seajay, told CBS News. “They put the public in danger by drawing out their weapons, and unfortunately, it cost my brother’s life.”

She added that he suffered from a blood disorder linked with disorientation.

“He did have a blood disorder and sometimes he would get brain bleeds,” she said. “When he would get these brain bleeds, sometimes, it would make him very disoriented, confused and he would think that people were trying to hurt him.”

Seajay is also convinced that her brother would have never opened fire with the gun he’d stolen.

“He did grab the weapon from her, but I know that my brother was not someone to hurt anyone,” she said. “He’s never hurt anyone in his life.”

Vivek Saxena

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