Police release body camera footage of fatal officer-involved shooting in May

COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) has released body camera video from the night a police officer shot a man in a Southeast neighborhood while responding to a call.

The man, Michael Hurst, 40, died in hospital. The video contains text etched by the Colorado Springs Police Department, with a spokesperson explaining the facts of the department's investigation thus far.

During the call between dispatches, it appears Hurt's mother told police that Hurst is tied to a wheelchair.

The shooting happened on the night of May 18. Police responded to a home on Deerfield Hills Road, near South Academy Boulevard and Milton E. Proby Parkway.

A woman inside the home called 9-1-1. She told dispatchers her son was suicidal, on drugs and had a shotgun.

The man was heard firing one round while his mother was on the phone with dispatchers. When police arrived, they launched a drone to monitor the scene, which police say was fired upon and hit.

The man then went out. In the video, you can hear him repeatedly threaten to shoot police and ignore orders to drop his gun and surrender peacefully.

CSPD says when the man moved in a way that led officers to believe he was going to shoot, an officer fired four rounds, hitting the man twice. Police said a .30-06 rifle was found after Hurst was shot and taken into custody.

The video shows the police providing first aid to the man while waiting for an ambulance. CSPD says Officer Nicholas Cassalia, who has been with CSPD for 3 years, was the officer involved in this shooting.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office is handling the officer-involved portion of this shooting investigation. It will be up to the Fourth Judicial District Prosecutor's Office to determine whether the use of deadly force was justified.
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