TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Police Department released body camera footage Friday of an August 13 scuffle between a suspect and two officers, one of them working her first shift ever.
The struggle over a gun became a bloody fight between life and death near South Utica Place and South Victor Avenue.
As of Friday evening, TPD had not made the officers' names available.
A Tulsa police field training officer (FTO) and an officer-in-training had stopped 34-year old Edward Leon Pulley for driving without a license plate.
According to court records, Pulley also didn't have a driver's license on him and gave the officers a fake name.
"They have every lawful right to (say), 'Okay, we're going to go and secure you.' And as soon as they do that, he immediately has a physical resistance," TPD Capt. Richard Meulenberg told 2 News Friday.
Capt. Meulenberg said the officers had to react fast when Pulley reached for a pistol at his waist.
In the scuffle, body camera footage shows the field training officer react to being hit in the foot and Pulley shoots himself as well. The rookie officer in her first day on the job then fired her gun and hit Pulley in the torso.
"(Pulley's) actions escalated the situation to the point where the officer in training her very first few hours in has to make a decision to neutralize the situation," Meulenberg said.
With backup on scene both the FTO and Pulley are rushed to the hospital. Both have since recovered from their injuries.
The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office filed a handful of charges against Pulley:
- Assault and Battery with a Deadly Weapon
- Possession of a Firearm AFCF (After Former Conviction of a Felony)
- False Personate Another to Create Liability
- Resisting an Officer
- No Driver's License
- Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine
Pulley pleaded guilty Wednesday.
With the DA's office clearing the officers of any wrongdoing this week, Meulenberg added the officers did just about everything right that day.
"(The field training officer) did admirably well that day," he said. "And then she still kept her composure. The FTO did an outstanding job, and still controlling the suspect and taking care of her rookie, her officer-involved training."
Pulley remains in jail awaiting sentencing January 16.
TPD said both officers have since returned to duty.
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