BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Over five months after a deadly officer-involved shooting, a Broken Arrow police officer is officially cleared of wrongdoing by the Tulsa County District Attorney's office.
2 News filed an open records request at the time of the shooting, but BAPD didn't release the body camera footage until after the investigation ended.
"This was an extremely chaotic scene," BA Police Chief Lance Arnold said. "There were a lot of moving parts and a lot of things going on."
Officers responded to a domestic dispute at a home near 101st and Elm the afternoon of Nov. 29. They were told the suspect, Samuel Flanagan, was armed. When they arrived, Officer Danny James attempted to separate others in the house from Flanagan.
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"Let's get everyone out of the house that's not the aggressor in this case," Arnold said of the situation. "Let's begin negotiations and be able to talk the subject out peacefully."
With a machete in one hand and a meat cleaver in the other, Flanagan walked out on the porch. Officer James is seen on body camera footage giving multiple warnings to return inside, but all were ignored. All the while, another BAPD officer is seen wrestling with a juvenile nearby.
After Flanagan took steps towards James, the officer fired one shot, hitting Flanagan in the chest. He later died at the hospital.
"They took the action necessary to stop Mr. Flanagan's action towards them," Arnold said. "But then immediately went into lifesaving modes and measures."
We were there the day of the shooting, and following an open records request, received the body cam video on May 5 after the Tulsa County DA cleared James.
"That definitely brings a little bit of closure to them," Arnold said. "Now this is something obviously they'll continue to deal with for the remainder of their careers, and the remainder of their lives."
The body cam footage does two things for BAPD. One, it provides them with some accountability. But two, it also gives us a chance to see their officers in a chaotic situation.
"It helps the public understand what our officers face in these types of situations, and the split-second decisions sometimes they have to make," Arnold said. "So it gives a good perspective all the way around."
Arnold told us that the officers involved were back on duty prior to the latest news. The chief also told us that Flanagan had methamphetamine in his system at the time of the shooting.
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