WECT News has obtained dashcam video an officer-involved shooting on Dec. 9, 2016, that resulted in Officer Jacob Schwenk of the Leland (NC) Police Department nearly losing his life in the line of duty.
Just before 9 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2016, authorities in Brunswick County received several 911 calls about a vehicle driving erratically along Bridgeport Way in Leland’s Windsor Park community. The suspected vehicle reportedly struck bushes and nearly hit some mailboxes. Officer Schwenk responded to the neighborhood to investigate.
“When you’re pulling somebody over, you really don’t know what their head space is or what their involvement in other crimes might be,” District Attorney Jon David said. “There was nothing about showing up on a DWI call which would have led a reasonable officer to conclude that his life was in danger. Fortunately, consistent with his training, as he approached the car, the officer already had his hand on his service weapon. He was being careful as he approached. So, it was that training that ultimately put him in a position to save his own life.”
The dashcam video shows Schwenk following a white car fitting the description into a cul-de-sac where the vehicle completes a U-turn and stops, facing the police vehicle. Schwenk is heard on the tape giving several repeated instructions to the driver.
Schwenk: “Shut the vehicle off!”
Three seconds later, another instruction.
Schwenk: “Shut the car off!”
No response is heard on the tape. Schwenk repeats his command six seconds later.
Another six seconds pass with no response heard from the driver on the video.
Schwenk is heard twice asking “Is the car off?”
At this point, he gives additional instructions.
Schwenk: “Go ahead, step out of the vehicle. Put the beer down.”
The order to get out of the vehicle is given again as you see the officer on the dashcam video for the first time. As he walks across the screen and toward the suspect’s vehicle, the officer continues to give instructions.
Schwenk: “Keep your hands where I can see them!”
It is at that point the driver later identified as 43-year-old Brent Quinn gets out of the vehicle and immediately begins firing.
Schwenk is seen stumbling backward and screaming. Investigators say he was shot six times, once in the chest and five times in the legs. He falls to the ground, out of the view of the dash camera.
Seconds later, Schwenk manages to return fire at Quinn, hitting him six times — including twice in the face — killing him.