POULSBO, Wash. — Body camera footage obtained by KING 5 shows the moments before Poulsbo police fatally shot a man earlier this year during the city's 3rd of July fireworks celebration.
Stonechild Chiefstick, 39, was shot in the head and torso by an officer after witnesses and police say he showed strange behavior before allegedly lunging at people with a screwdriver.
The man “just didn’t look right,” a witness told police back in July. “Was just scoping everybody out and threatened a little kid with a screwdriver saying he is going to hurt somebody.”
In the officer's body camera footage, you see the initial encounter with Chiefstick is calm. The officer asks Chiefstick about his behavior and it ends peacefully.
But when police confronted Chiefstick again later, the officer can be heard yelling at Chiefstick to get his hand out of his pocket. The officer can also be heard yelling for Chiefstick to get down. There is a struggle and the officer's body camera falls off, and seconds later the officer fired two shots, killing Chiefstick.
The officer involved was put on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
Investigators recovered a flat-headed screwdriver from the scene.
Police later found Chiefstick to have drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of the incident.
Chiefstick was a father of five and a member of the Suquamish Tribe.