![Police fire at teen suspect. [YouTube/Screenshot/WWLTV]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/YouTubeScreenshotWWLTV-e1710000449956.png "Police fire at teen suspect. [YouTube/Screenshot/WWLTV]")
The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) released a dramatic body cam video Friday of police firing at a 15-year-old suspect during an attempted arrest, police said in a press conference.
The teen suspect was injured during the arrest, but NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said in the press conference that his injuries did not stem from shots fired by NOPD officers.
The suspect allegedly had been involved in 46 criminal incidents, but the NOPD did not elaborate on those crimes or why the suspect was still on the streets, 4WWL reported. (RELATED: Body Cam Video Shows Knife-Wielding Man Rush At Cops Before Being Shot)
NOPD body cam footage sheds light on ‘high-risk’ arrest, use-of-force investigation https://t.co/ShYu6zT2iH
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) March 9, 2024
Body cam video shows police responding to a stolen vehicle and aggravated assault call and finding the suspect asleep behind the wheel of the parked vehicle with a weapon tucked into his waistband that was “easily accessible,” according to Kirkpatrick.
The video shows the teen wake up and try to flee, nearly ramming into several officers.
Officers can be heard on the video demanding that the suspect “Open the door!” and “Get out of the car now!”
Another officer can be heard yelling, “I will take a shot!”
One officer discharged his weapon as the vehicle appeared to be coming at him, 4WWL reported.
When body cam video shows the suspect eventually exit the vehicle, he is wrestled to the ground by police, arrested and taken to a hospital for non-shooting injuries sustained during the arrest, according to 4WWL.
“I am incredibly grateful to God himself, that no police officer was shot or killed, and, in this event, fortunately the young man was taken into custody without any injury to him from gunfire,” Superintendent Kirkpatrick said.
When the suspect was released from the hospital, he was detained at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center and charged with one count of resisting a police officer with force or violence, one count of juvenile in possession of a firearm, and three counts of aggravated assault upon a police officer with a motor vehicle, 4WWL reported.
In the press conference, Kirkpatrick said the officer who fired his weapon was a 27-year veteran of the force who was temporarily relegated to desk duty during the investigation of the arrest.
She said the officer has subsequently returned to the line of duty, though the investigation continues.