First Redding Police Shooting Since Body Cameras Were Implemented: Here’s What We Know So Far.

On the afternoon of April 10, a Redding police officer shot Redding resident Cody Levi Bailey near the intersection of Hartnell and East Cypress. Body camera footage of the incident is available but has not yet been released, Redding Police Department Chief Brian Barner told Shasta Scout. 

Barner said that the department is “working on a video for public release depicting the incident and including the (body-worn camera) footage” and that RPD would release the body camera footage “well within the forty-five days as required” under California law. 

For now, what the public knows of the incident comes from a press release from the Shasta County’s Sheriff’s Office, which is coordinating an inter-agency investigation into the police shooting.

The Sheriff’s Office (SO) says the shooting occurred after Bailey and another man were approached by two police officers for trespassing on an empty private lot. According to the SO, Bailey became agitated when confronted by the two police officers, who were working as RPD “Park Rangers.”

Bailey, the SO said, made verbal threats, and threw a rock which did not strike anyone. He then left the area, according to the SO, and began walking down Cypress Avenue, where police noticed he held a knife in his hand. A third officer responding to the call initiated contact with Bailey near the intersection of Hartnell and Lowden Lane and ordered him to drop the knife, the SO release says.

Bailey did not drop the knife on the officer’s command, according to the SO, and instead “forced a violent confrontation” with the police officer. The press release does not offer any details on what that confrontation entailed, but says the unnamed third Redding Police officer responded to it by shooting Bailey. 

The shot was not lethal. Bailey was treated at a local hospital, the SO says, and was booked into the Shasta County Jail following his release. He’s being held on four charges, including exhibiting a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, and resisting an executive officer.

This is the first police shooting in Redding since RPD implemented body cameras in mid-2023. Last night, April 16, Barner offered a routine verbal update to the Redding City Council about the police body camera program. He said his officers appreciate the cameras and as a chief, he feels the cameras protect his officers and show how professional his staff are.

The Redding Police Department’s policy on the use of body-worn cameras indicates that they should be activated during any use of force and, once activated, will retain video data beginning thirty seconds before activation and continue retaining data until deactivation. Officers are required to keep recording until directed by a supervisor to stop or until being removed from the scene.

Have questions, concerns, or comments you’d like to share with us directly? Reach out: editor@shastascout.org.