SPOKANE, Wash. — Newly released body camera footage shows the moments leading up to a violent confrontation between a suspect and a Spokane police officer during a traffic stop late Tuesday night.
Spokane police found three children reported missing out of Bremerton, Washington, during the traffic stop.
According to Spokane Police Cpl. Ronald Van Tassel, two officers were injured in a violent confrontation during the traffic stop.
Officers were working near Market Street and Wellesley Avenue shortly after 10:30 p.m. when they saw a driver that they suspected was under the influence, according to Van Tassel. The vehicle was swerving, hitting a curb and running a red light. Officers stopped the vehicle several blocks away on Cook Street.
In the body camera footage, you can hear an officer say the man was driving with no headlights, ran a red light, and drove up onto a curb and hit a wall at Wellesley and Fifth Avenue.
When officers stopped the vehicle, driver Aaron J. Aamodt, 37, immediately exited. He started to approach officer, who demanded he get back in his car. He had his hands hidden in his clothing around his waistband, which is where weapons are commonly kept.
Body camera footage shows Aamodt approaching officers and saying, "I'm going to f***king murder you. I'll f***king kill you."
Another officer then deployed his taser at Aamodt, which had no effect on him. Aamodt then charged the officer, grabbed onto his gun and tried to remove it from the holster. He then tackled the officer to the ground and got on top of him.
During the fight, Aamodt hit the officer several times and tried to bite his throat. He also grabbed the officer by the face and drove his thumb into the officer’s eyeball. The officer was eventually able to shake free of Aamodt’s grip.
The officer received a concussion and minor eye and hand injuries from the incident. Another officer received a shoulder injury.
The body camera footage shows Aamodt tackling the officer to the ground and the officer says something about Aamodt biting his face. During most of the incident, the video is black and you can hear shouting and cursing from both parties. Later an officer shouts at Aamodt to stop resisting before he is handcuffed.
Court documents said officers punched Aamodt several times during the struggle. Eventually, an officer punched him twice in the face which eventually rendered him unconscious, documents said.
After the incident, you can hear the officers involved telling other responding officers that Aamodt attacked them, got out of the car and ran toward them, and had his right hand in his pocket.
When officers looked inside Aamodt’s vehicle, they found his three children all under the age of 13 who were reported missing by their mother in Bremerton, Washington, earlier in the day.
According to Van Tassel, Aamodt was booked into jail for first degree assault, reckless driving, three counts of reckless endangerment for having the children in the vehicle, and obstructing and disarming a police officer.
Aamodt made his first court appearance Wednesday. A judge set his bond at $100,000. He is set to be arraigned Jan. 29.