Bodycam Video Shows Moment Police Officer Slams Into Pedestrian On Sidewalk And Kills Him

Tense bodycam footage released by the Houston Police Department showed the moment a cop rammed his patrol car into a 62-year-old man on a sidewalk. Another officer at the scene performed chest compressions, but the unsuspecting pedestrian was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Houston Police Officer Orlando Hernandez was driving the 6,300-pound Ford Police Interceptor between 80 and 100 mph in a 40-mph zone on Reed Road. The officer and his partner, Anthony Aranda, were responding to a call to assist other officers in the Dec. 4 incident, according to the New York Post.

With the cruiser’s lights and siren activated, Hernandez maneuvered the vehicle through traffic over roads that were wet after recent rains that afternoon, according to a crash report filed by the police department. At some points in the video, Hernandez was seen steering the vehicle with only one hand on the wheel, as reported by Chron.

The victim, Michael Wayne Jackson, was on his way to the barber when the accident took place at around 5:40 p.m. As he was walking west on the sidewalk in the 4100 block of Reed Road near Scott Street, Hernandez sped toward the intersection and jumped the sidewalk, fatally striking Jackson within moments. The impact of the collision caused the windshield to shatter.

“S–t! F–k!” Hernandez yelled after running the cruiser into the pedestrian.

Hernandez and Aranda, both aged 25, jumped out of the vehicle and rushed to the victim’s aid.

“I need HFD here. I just got wrecked out,” Hernandez was heard saying in the clip, released last week. “Scott and Reed. One male patient. Not conscious, he’s not breathing. He has bleeding from the head.”

The officer then checked on Jackson and said, “Sir, sir. Wake up, sir.”

Within minutes, paramedics arrived at the scene and declared Jackson dead.

The victim’s brother, Timothy Jackson, spoke days after the incident and said the two officers, both of whom have been with the force for less than five years, were not trained well enough.

"It looks like to me, maybe the guys couldn't drive that well," Timothy Jackson said. "They just weren't ready. Their skill level in pursuits maybe wasn't that good, because they came out of the street onto the sidewalk. They put anybody that's on the sidewalk in danger."

Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, called the accident a "tragic accident” and said, “Officers were responding to an assist while chasing robbery suspects. It's my belief that the officers left the road to avoid a collision and never saw the citizen. Truly sad for all involved.”

Both the officers in the patrol car were placed on administrative duty pending a department investigation. The case is yet to be closed by the Houston Police Department. Details about whether prosecutors will pursue charges against Hernandez have not yet been disclosed.