VIDEO | Louisville police release body camera footage of officer shooting suspect | Crime Reports

Warning: The video below may be disturbing to some viewers.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Louisville Metro Police Department released body camera footage Friday of an officer shooting a man in the Taylor Berry neighborhood.

LMPD Chief Steve Conrad said Fourth Division officer Jason Maguire shot Thomas Brooks, 40, while attempting to recover a car that was reported stolen. The department's investigation into the incident is in its preliminary stages. Additional forensic testing and interviews with the involved officers and witnesses will be conducted, and Maguire has been placed on administrative reassignment while LMPD's Public Integrity Unit investigates, Conrad said.

"We owe that to the officers, to the suspect, to the suspect's family and to this entire community to ensure a thorough and complete investigation is done," Conrad said during a news conference Friday. "Only then can we fully ensure that the force that was used was justified and that our policies, procedures and training were followed."

"This is the first step of a much more lengthy process," added Maj. Jamey Schwab, commander of LMPD's Special Investigations Division.

According to Schwab, officers were flagged down by an Enterprise Rent-A-Car employee at the LMPD Training Academy on Taylor Boulevard around 2 p.m. Thursday. The employee reported a Ford Flex that had been stolen from Enterprise had been found near the Walgreens at the intersection of Winkler Avenue and Montana Avenue, not far from Algonquin Parkway.

Officers found Brooks in the stolen car in an alley behind the Walgreens, according to Brooks' arrest report. LMPD Assistant Chief Robert Schroeder said the officers surrounded the car and shouted at Brooks to show his hands, but his arrest report says he took off at a high rate of speed, showing "extreme indifference to the officer's life and wantonly created a grave risk of death to the officer by contacting the officer with the front of the vehicle."

Footage of the incident from Maguire's body camera shows the officer approach the car from the front with his gun raised. As Brooks appears to take off in the car, its hood makes contact with Maguire's hands, and the officer moves to the passenger side of the vehicle to avoid it. At that point, Maguire "fired multiple rounds at the suspect, striking him in the upper arm."

Brooks continued fleeing in the stolen car after being shot, police said, but eventually ditched the car and took off on foot. Officers caught up with him in the 1100 block of Euclid Avenue, and he was taken to University Hospital to have his gunshot wound treated. Police said they found marijuana, suspected crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia inside the car.

Another officer, who did not fire any rounds, was injured after hitting a utility pole during the chase, Schroeder said. The officer was treated at Jewish Hospital and released, Schwab said.

"No run is routine for our officers," he said. "This was a stolen vehicle, you know, and it could have gone very easily with the suspect being taken into custody."

Brooks, who was already wanted on a domestic violence warrant, is now facing additional charges of attempted murder, fleeing or evading police in a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property. He pleaded not guilty to several charges during his arraignment hearing Friday morning and told a judge he needs more medical attention.

Thomas Brooks in court on 12-27-19 — Thomas Brooks during a court appearance in Louisville, Ky. on Dec. 27, 2019.

"I mean, I just got shot last night, and I came straight to the jail," Brooks said. "And I got a shattered shoulder. That's what the diagnosis was."

The judge set Brooks' bond at $500,000.

Maguire's personnel file, which was released by LMPD on Friday, shows he has been disciplined for using "unreasonable force" in the past. But it also shows almost a dozen letters of commendation from Conrad.

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