Redding Police Officer Who Shot Suspect Did Not Activate Body Camera

More than three weeks after a Redding Police officer shot a suspect, police have finally released a heavily edited and narrated version of events that includes video taken by at least one police body camera that day. 

Shots fired by the officer on April 10 injured the suspect, who was one of two individuals originally approached by RPD “Park Rangers” while sitting with some belongings in an empty privately-owned lot in Redding near the intersection of Lowden Lane and Cypress Avenue, police say.

Police released a video about the incident titled, “Officer Involved Shooting Community Briefing”, on May 10. It contains segments of police body camera video interspersed with RPD narration, close up shots of RPD’s interpretation of events, and documentation of the suspect’s criminal history, which would have been unknown to the officer at the time of the shooting. 

About ten minutes into the video, the suspect is shown throwing a rock downhill in the direction of two RPD officers, from what appears to be seventy-five feet away.

In the body cam video compilation, the police narrator describes the rock throwing incident as the police “becoming the victim of an assault with a deadly weapon.” An early incident report from the Sheriff’s Office says the rock “narrowly missed the officers” although this isn’t clear from the video.

After the rock is thrown, one of the Park Rangers says “that’s it” and walks slowly up the hill to confront the individual, who had already begun to leave the property. Police follow the suspect up onto Cypress Lane, reporting via radio at one point that he appeared to have a knife in his hand.

Not long after, the suspect was shot by a third RPD officer, Bryan Cowen. RPD says Cowen, who is currently assigned as a school resource officer, was filling his vehicle tank at a gas station in preparation to go off shift when he responded to the incident. An initial incident report from the Sheriff’s Office said the suspect “forced a confrontation” with Officer Cowen.

No body camera footage is available that documents this alleged confrontation, because, according to RPD, Cowen’s body camera was “on, but in sleep mode”, meaning turned on but with both audio and video disabled, and did not capture the incident. Without that body camera footage the public lacks access to critical details like the distance between the suspect and the officer when the shooting occurred. One close up still of body camera video footage taken after the incident appears to show the suspect holding a small knife with the blade open.

RPD’s policy manual says the body worn cameras used by RPD have a continuous loop feature that will record video over an 18-hour period unless the sleep button is enabled. No information is provided as to why Cowen did not activate his camera from sleep mode while responding to a high risk incident. A brief statement at the end of the video indicates that RPD’s body camera policy has been amended since the shooting.

The policy was amended, Chief Barner explained to Shasta Scout by email, to change the language relating to the specific time that “sleep mode” can be used. The new policy is up on RPD’s site. Barner has not yet provided access to an earlier version of the policy for comparison.

Legal Requirement for Release of Audio/Video from Officer Shootings

Importantly, the compilation video contains only parts of the body camera footage of the incident which means the release of the video does not yet appear to comply with California law. Assembly Bill 748, now Government Code 7923.625, requires that the full unedited body camera video (except for legally necessary redactions) be disclosed to the public as soon as possible. 

Thirty-four days have now passed since the April 10 shooting. Asked to document a reason for the delay in releasing the required footage, Chief Barner wrote to Shasta Scout by email on May 6, “as you know these are complex investigations that take some time.” 

According to the First Amendment Coalition, an active investigation does not justify withholding body camera video of a police shooting unless releasing that video will substantially interfere with the investigation, such as by endangering the safety of a witness or confidential source. 

The tax-funded RPD body camera program was put into place in August of 2023. This is the first police shooting by RPD since body cameras were implemented. 

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