Police in Seal Beach have released video of officers shooting an armed man to death minutes after he attempted to kick in the front door of an apartment where a woman and her two children were hiding in January.
In video and audio of the violent encounter, Michael Emch., Jr. can be seen arguing with Seal Beach police officers who arrived at the apartment building in the 100 block of Old Ranch Road at 9:36 p.m. on Jan. 16.
“I’m here to get my money from her,” Emch says from behind a wall to an officer with his body camera recording. “She owes me.”
“She doesn’t want you here,” the officer says back.
That initial encounter between Emch, 47, of Irvine, and the officers occurred just after the woman he was attempting to reach called 911 reporting a man pacing back and forth outside her apartment and attempting multiple times to break down her door.
Police released the audio of the emergency calls, in which the terrified woman whispered to a dispatcher that she was hiding inside with her two kids. On the call, the woman can be heard realizing the man outside is her ex, as police illuminate him with their lights.
As the encounter progressed, one officer shot Emch with a stun gun. As he lay on the ground, according to the video, an officer turned a corner around a wall to find him.
Emch then pulled a black, semi-automatic handgun from his sweater pocket. The officer instantly opened fire on him, shooting him numerous times as Emch writhed on the ground and screamed in pain.
In California, police agencies are required to report shootings by their officers. And like larger agencies such as the Los Angeles Police Department, local police departments have begun producing videos of these shootings that combine the footage obtained from their officers’ body-worn cameras as well as audio available from emergency calls.
In the video, Seal Beach Police Chief Michael Henderson said the investigation…
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