After Chattanooga police officer Alex Olson fired several shots at a suspect who rammed his vehicle into Olson's patrol car during a traffic stop and drove away, Olson jumped into his car and gave chase.
A few doors down, he stopped to talk to a woman standing in her driveway in the residential neighborhood.
"Did you see which way they went?" he asked breathlessly.
"They took a right," she said.
"Thank you," he said, then hit the gas.
The entire Oct. 5 traffic stop was recorded by Olson's in-car cameras. The Times Free Press obtained the raw video Thursday that shows how the traffic stop unfolded at 3300 Windsor Court.
The video shows in detail the events police described immediately after the incident took place.
Around 8 p.m., Olson saw a car run a stop sign and attempted to pull the driver over. The driver, who police believe was Luster Deloney, 20, attempted to flee but pulled into a dead-end road.
In the video, Olson pulls behind the vehicle, steps out and walks toward the back of his car. When Olson is standing near the rear passenger door on the driver's side of his patrol car, the suspect puts his vehicle into reverse and rams it into Olson's patrol car.
The impact jolts the patrol car, and Olson is seen firing four shots at the vehicle as the driver flees, car tires squealing. Olson pursues the suspect for a short time but eventually pulls over because his car is damaged.
He later finds the suspect's bumper attached to his patrol car.
There is an ongoing internal affairs investigation into Olson's actions that night, and Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher said he can't comment on the case now.
"It's not appropriate for me to comment until the investigation is complete and I have had a disciplinary hearing for the officer," Fletcher said.
The department's use of force policy allows an officer to fire his or her weapon when the officer "reasonably believes that its use is necessary in order to stop an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death against the officer or another person," according to the police policy manual.
However, the policy also prohibits officers from firing at fleeing felony suspects who do not represent an imminent threat to the life of an officer or another person, firing at or into a moving vehicle that does not represent an imminent threat, and firing at a vehicle for the purpose of disabling it.
The policy notes that the officer's decision to use deadly force will be judged only on what the officer knew at the time.
Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.