ALAMO HEIGHTS -- The Bexar County District Attorney's Office has released 90 minutes of body camera footage captured by an Alamo Heights Police Officer, who arrived on scene minutes after Cameron Redus was shot to death in December 2013.
The footage, released following a request to the DA's office, provides an early timeline into Alamo Heights Police Department's initial investigation at the scene.
Alamo Heights Police declined to release the footage following a request from the I-Team last year.
The footage includes several glimpses of Redus' body; the I-Team has declined to show that footage because of its sensitive nature.
Officer Carlos Lopez, who captured the footage, arrived on scene to find University of the Incarnate Word Police Corporal Chris Carter out of breath and calling for an ambulance.
"He's down. We need an ambulance. I had to shoot," Cpl. Carter said.
Carter, who resigned from UIW's police department in December 2014, was checked out for injuries at the scene and briefly sat in an ambulance before refusing an offer to go to the hospital.
"Nah, I'm good. I'm good. I just need to calm down," Carter said while seated in an ambulance.
He later told investigators he was forced to shoot Redus, a UIW senior, five times at close range after the 23-year-old attacked him while being arrested for drunk driving.
Carter told Alamo Heights police his "mic was running", but declined to provide additional details in the footage because his attorney had not arrived at the scene.
A second UIW officer at the scene confirmed Carter called in an incorrect street, delaying the officer's ability to provide back-up.
"Like a good two minutes of 'give me your status'. And I'm freaking out on the phone," the UIW officer told police at the scene.
The officer then said UIW cameras run "24/7" and likely captured at least audio of the shooting itself.
"I don't know if they were to capture it or not from the angle of the camera, but he had the mic on," the UIW officer said.
An audio recording of the altercation and shooting was released last March, after a Bexar County grand jury declined to indict Carter.
The footage also includes audio from an Alamo Heights officer stating he failed to photograph Redus' body before it was moved off the curb to between Redus' truck and another vehicle so EMS personnel could check him for vital signs.
An incident report released by Alamo Heights Police after the shooting indicated the body was moved to provide Redus a "strip", but did not indicate how far he was actually moved.
"So he's laying back with his legs tucked under him, alright. I wish I got a picture of that," an Alamo Heights officer told Lopez at the scene.
Lopez responded he got video of the position of Redus' body "on video."
The timeline of the video indicates it took Alamo Heights police more than an hour to secure Carter's service weapon, and even longer for officers to cover Redus' body.
Lopez is heard describing the weather as changing from rain to sleet then said: "They ought to cover the body, but I don't know why they haven't covered the body yet."
The recording ends as Lopez and a man appearing to be a tenant discuss him accidentally walking through the shooting scene.
"I'm like 'what's going on.' That guy said 'get the hell out of my crime scene.' I said 'I didn't know there was a crime," the man told Lopez, who then warned him to stay outside the police tape.
Alamo Heights Police Chief Richard Pruitt defended his department's handling of the scene in a written statement sent to the I-Team:
The case file presented to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was thoroughly vetted by numerous investigators. The Bexar County Grand Jury has since rendered their decision. Since that time we have not learned any new information nor have we identified any new witnesses for this case. Therefore, we have no new information to share. Thank you.
Carter, along with University of the Incarnate Word, remain defendants in a multi-million dollar wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Redus family in 2014.
On Tuesday, an attorney representing UIW told the I-Team over the phone that the school is still preparing its appeal of the case for the Texas Supreme Court.
The court will likely decide whether or not it will hear UIW's appeal later this year.
