Body camera video shows moment Georgia deputy is shot in chest on dark highway
The moment a Georgia deputy was shot in the chest was recorded by his body camera, and it shows the motorist disguised the weapon by wrapping it in a towel.
Deputy John Kile of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office was hospitalized and survived the Jan. 23 shooting, due to his bullet proof vest, the department said in a Facebook post.
The graphic 10-minute video just released by officials starts with Kile pulling over driver Zachary Lucas Olivar, 24, on a dark two-lane highway between the Wayside and Round Oak communities. The area is about 18 miles north of Macon.
Olivar puts his hands out of the driver’s side window, as if surrendering. However, he refuses repeated requests to exit the car.
“This is my home, sir. This is my home,” Olivar says repeatedly.
It’s around the 4-minute mark that something appears in Olivar’s hand, prompting the deputy to ask: “What you got?”
Seconds later, a gun wrapped in a towel is thrust out the window and a flash point is seen.
Kile grunts from the impact of a bullet, but doesn’t fall. Instead, the camera shows his feet running to his patrol car, as he screams “Shots fired, shots fired” into his radio.
Video recorded from the perspective of the patrol car shows Kile was standing just a few feet from the gun, and he is seen grabbing his chest as he runs back to his vehicle.
The video concludes with Olivar captured six minutes later, after his vehicle is forced off the road. Kile was among the pursuing officers, despite his injuries, officials said.
Olivar, who lives in Snellville, is being held without bond at the Jones County Sheriff’s Office “facing aggravated assault charges,” officials said.
Jones County Sheriff R.N. “Butch” Reece says investigators have learned Olivar has a “history of mental illness,” which is why he decided to release the video.
“We have received reports that he has been having issues for the past week, with several attempts made by his family to get him help,” Reece wrote on Facebook.
“Families are struggling to get help for loved ones with mental health issues; however, it seems all too often that these individuals fall through the cracks. Unfortunately it sometimes takes an incident like this one to show how important accessibility to mental health care really is. Our jails are not designed to be mental health treatment facilities.”
Reece concluded his post by saying he hopes the incident helps bring “a much needed change in the mental health system” with the help of state legislative action.
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