Indianapolis police on Wednesday released bodycam footage of a cop shooting and killing a suspect who had allegedly dragged a woman into his truck and stabbed her multiple times.
The disturbing incident began on the evening of Nov. 30 after a McDonalds employee called 911 to report that a customer told her they heard the victim yelling for help from inside a semi-truck in the parking lot, according to a recording of the call.
A responding officer approached the vehicle and identified himself, only to see truck driver Lamont Bland, 60, peer from behind a curtain of a sleeping cabin and retreat.
When the cop put his ear to the cabin, he heard the woman screaming for help.
After Bland ignored calls on a public address system for his surrender, Lt. Brandon Mills broke the driver’s side window with a baton, according to the footage.
“He already cut me,” the victim was heard telling the officer from behind the curtain. “I’m bleeding out. Help me!”
“I’ve got a knife to her throat,” Bland warned, adding “I’m going to kill her right now,” and “I ain’t got nothing to lose.”
After failing to negotiate with Bland, the lieutenant entered the cabin and saw him mounted on top of the woman.
Bland pleaded with the officer to kill him multiple times.
“Go ahead and kill me, I’ve got it put right to her throat” he said, according to the footage.
Mills then fired one shot at Bland, who was pronounced dead on the scene, police said.
The officers grabbed the victim and carried her to safety, where they treated her for lacerations to her face, head, ear, chest and hands, police said.
“He cut me bad,” said the woman, who was expected to survive the attack.
The victim told police that Bland — a complete stranger — had kidnapped her and dragged her to the truck before slashing her.
A bloodied razor blade was recovered at the scene, police said, adding the “investigation is still in its early stages.”
A civilian-majority Use of Force Review Board was set to examine the incident after the criminal investigation was finished, police said.