MT VERNON, Ill. — Illinois State Police have released an edited version of dash camera footage from a gunfire exchange on Interstate 64 that left a man dead and a trooper injured.
Note: The video above is from May 9.
The shooting happened on Tuesday on I-64 in Jefferson County, near Milepost 72. ISP said Brandon Griffin, 23, pulled out a gun during an altercation with troopers, leading to a shootout. Griffin was killed and a trooper was shot and treated at a hospital. He has since been released to recover at home.
On Friday, ISP released a five-minute video of the shooting that was captured on a trooper's dash camera. It was released after consultation with the Jefferson County State's Attorney's Office and "in accordance with ISP’s commitment to integrity and public transparency," ISP said. Griffin's mother was given the opportunity to review the video before its release.
The video starts with two state troopers outside of a vehicle talking with Griffin and his wife, Christine Santos. ISP said Santos is now being held on a no-bond arrest warrant out of New Mexico for bond violations on a pending aggravated assault with a firearm case in which Griffin was her codefendant.
“There’s no reason to lie to us when we’re just trying to help," one of the troopers says in the video. "The only thing I was trying to do was help. You guys could have been long down the road, probably 15, 20 minutes ago down the road, if you’d just said, 'Here’s my ID, here’s my ID' and been done. It would have solved so much. But you guys have… not all cops are bad.”
At this point in the video, one of the troopers goes back to his car. ISP said both Griffin and Santos gave false names and dates of birth to troopers around three times each. During a record check, Griffin was found to have a nationwide arrest warrant for felony weapons charges.
The trooper returns from his vehicle and asks Griffin to turn around, at which point Griffin begins to struggle with the troopers and says, "I'm not going in cuffs."
“Brandon, we’re done," a trooper says as Griffin continues to resist.
As Santos asks the troopers to stop, one of the troopers calls for backup. Griffin says, “You’re going to have to bear spray me.”
The struggle continues further, at which point Griffin says, “I was in the military. You’re going to have to shoot me. I’m not f****** going.”
Griffin slips out of his shirt, and one of the troopers deploys a stun gun on him. Griffin manages to make it back to the car, yelling "shoot me in the head" while troopers tell an upset Santos to get back.
A trooper then screams "he's got a gun, he's got a gun," at which point troopers back up and Griffin raises what appears to be a pistol. Griffin fires and a trooper falls to the ground, appearing to be shot. The other trooper returns fire and Griffin jumps back into the passenger seat.
The second trooper relays that an officer has been shot and grabs the hand of the injured trooper, helping him stand up. The troopers retreat as the injured one asks "Where am I shot?"
ISP says the officers then "tactically retreated to seek cover out of the view of the camera and gave verbal commands." Griffin was later found dead inside the vehicle.
Santos was taken into custody without incident, ISP said.
An ongoing investigation into the shooting is being conducted by ISP and is under review by the Jefferson County State's Attorney's Office.
The footage may be viewed in the video player below.
Editor's note: The contents of the below video may be upsetting. Viewer discretion is advised.