Houston PD releases bodycam of officer-involved shooting at Galleria

Houston PD released bodycam of Galleria OIS

Body-worn camera footage of a May incident at the Houston Galleria shows the moment an officer shot and injured a suspect who failed to follow officer commands following a reported robbery.

HOUSTON - Body-worn camera footage of a May incident at the Houston Galleria shows the moment an officer shot and injured a suspect who failed to follow officer commands following a reported robbery. 

Officer-Involved Shooting Video

The Latest:

The video, released by the Houston Police Department on Tuesday, shows an officer approaching the driver's side door of a blue sedan with his service weapon pointed at the window. 

The vehicle's driver claims not to have done anything, before driving forward across packed lanes of traffic, pinning the officer inside the open car door, which struck a nearby vehicle. The officer quickly fired several rounds, at least one of which struck the suspect.

Houston OIS bodycam

The suspect quickly came to a stop and exited the vehicle, falling to the ground and asking for the officers' help. Officers at the scene quickly began to render aid, applying a tourniquet to slow the bleeding at the suspect's upper leg.

May 25 Officer-Involved Shooting

The backstory:

The suspect, identified as Maxie Ray Whitaker, 42, was charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer following the incident.

Whitaker was believed to have been involved in a previous "jugging" incident. Jugging is a type of robbery in which a suspect follows a victim from a bank or ATM to rob them of the money at a secondary location. Recently, jugging became a recognized felony offense in Texas.

He and Sergeant R. Marquez were both hospitalized after the shooting; Whitaker for his gunshot wound, and Marquez for injuries sustained after he was pinned in the vehicle's door.