A police officer was allegedly kidnapped after being dragged into a getaway car during an alleged armed robbery in California, and the bodycam video has been released.
The video showed a vehicle crashing into a FoodMaxx grocery store in Antioch at about 5:15 a.m. on Feb. 20. Three armed robbers enter the store before police arrive about three minutes later.
The officer threatens to shoot DeSouza unless he stops the vehicle, and after he refuses to stop, the officer shoots him.
One of the store employees later told police that one of the men was armed and threatened employees.
As police are yelling commands, the driver of the vehicle crashes into the occupied police cruiser, and police approach the car.
At one point, an officer lunges at the car just as it reverses back into the store, and he falls inside the passenger side with the door nearly shutting behind him.
That’s when the driver flees with the officer inside. The officer was identified as Travis Donaldson.
Bodycam video from inside the vehicle captures the bizarre interaction between officer and the driver.
“Stop the car!” the officer says.
“Get out the car, bro!” the driver yells.
“Stop the car!” the officer repeats.
“Get out!” the driver yells.
“Stop the car!” the officer yells.
Moments later the driver yells, “I’m going to crash this motherf**king car! I ain’t going to jail!”
Police say the driver, later identified as 23-year-old Dominick DeSouza, was driving erratically and ignoring orders from Donaldson. He tells the officer to jump out of the car but does not slow down.
The officer threatens to shoot DeSouza unless he stops the vehicle, and after he refuses to stop, the officer shoots him. DeSouza yells in pain, crashes the car, and then flees on foot.
Police said additional officers arrived at the scene and located DeSouza within 10 minutes of his fleeing from the car. He was found with the gunshot wound to his leg and hiding in bushes.
He was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
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The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office charged DeSouza with kidnapping, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon upon a peace officer, two counts of burglary, grand theft, and unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle.
Officer Donaldson suffered minor injuries during the incident.
The nine minutes of footage from the incident can be viewed in its entirety at the Antioch City YouTube channel.
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