An Omaha judge in a wrongful death lawsuit against Nebraska cops released footage showing what happened inside a Wendy’s restaurant being robbed at gunpoint on August 26, 2014.
The footage shows Omaha officers Brooks Riley and Jason Wilhelm responding to the scene and fatally shooting two men, including the suspected robber and a camera crew member for the television series “Cops.”
More than 30 rounds and less than 20 seconds after entering the restaurant, the gunfire ends.
Meanwhile, the sound mixer for “Cops,” Bryce Dion, 30, is slumped over against the Wendy’s vestibule, surrounded by his audio equipment, dying.
“Bryce, are you alright?” cameraman Michael Lee asks Dion.
“No.”
Dion and Lee were tagging along with Omaha cops Riley and Wilehelm filming the officers working in Omaha.
“Bryce!”
“Stay with me, man. Stay with me,” Lee cries.
Dion was wearing a bullet proof vest, but he was struck under his left armpit by a round from one of the officers’ guns.
Dion worked on the pro-police show for seven years before he was killed by police gunfire during the robbery.
Cortez Washington, 32, who police say was apparently robbing the store while armed with an Airsoft gun, was also killed by police gunfire.
The video shows the officers firing at Washington as he points his gun.
The video was played in open court on Tuesday as evidence after the city of Omaha sought to bar the footage from being seen by the public.
Dion was the first “Cops” crew member killed in the show’s history.
“Bryce had a passion for life and his work, and was always the first one to help anyone in need. He will best be remembered for a smile that never faded,” Morgan and John Langley, the father and son executive producers of “Cops,” said in 2014.
“All of us who knew him or worked with him on ‘Cops,’ as well as the many friends he made working on documentaries and other shows, mourn his passing.”
“Cops” honored Dion’s memory in 2014 in an hour-long episode featuring some of his work.
