It began with a police pursuit over a busted headline — on a bicycle, and ended with a tackle followed by a lawsuit.
Now, newly released police bodycam provides the most objective view of what actually happened to Derrick Rountree on Christmas Eve 2018.
The Virginia Pilot reports:
As the 43-year-old man rode past a police cruiser at about 9 p.m., an officer briefly sounded the vehicle’s siren, flashed its lights, and said something over a megaphone. Thinking the alert was meant for someone else, Rountree continued to ride on, then turned around to head back to a friend’splace at the Tidewater Gardens public housing complex where he was staying.
What happened next was captured by Norfolk police officer Aaron Christie’s body-worn camera — and has become the subject of a $1.5 million excessive forcelawsuit Rountree filed against the officer last year in federal court.
The Virginian-Pilot obtained a copy of the nearly 30-minutebody camera video, which was submitted as an exhibit to the case a few weeks ago by Rountree’s attorney, Christian Connell. The Pilot is publishing the first two minutes of the video, which show Christie exit his police cruiser and chase and tackle Rountree. Rountree’s right leg was broken in three places when the officer fell on him, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint argues Christie violated Rountree’s civil rights by using excessive force to stop him for riding his bike at night without a headlight, which is illegal in Virginia.
Watch the initial encounter here.