LAKE COUNTY, FLA. – Body cam video of an April 12 deputy-involved shooting shows a screaming man refusing commands to raise his hands while rushing toward a home before being shot.
The video, released Tuesday by the Sheriff’s Office, depicts the final moments of Eric Escobar’s life, as he was apparently insane or out of his mind on drugs or alcohol. Deputies were called to Via Roma Circle in Clermont at 12:16 a.m.
A woman called 911 to say a man was yelling at passing cars and banging on doors, including hers. She later said he accosted a guest trying to leave in his vehicle.
The video shows the deputy immediately confronting 39-year-old Escobar in the street. “Stop, stop, stop, stop for a second,” he shouted to the frantic man.
“There’s a [expletive] woman in there,” Escobar wailed.
The deputy said he knew there was a woman inside because she is the one who called.
He tried to get the man’s name and calm him down, but to no avail.
“We’ve got to go in there, bro,” Escobar said.
The deputy, apparently spotting a handgun in his back pocket, ordered Escobar to raise his hands and turn around. Escobar kept shouting. The deputy warned him that he would be shot with a stun gun. “That is not a question, he said.
“Please, please,” Escobar begged. The deputy by this time had pulled out his handgun.
Suddenly, Escobar runs toward the front door of the woman who called 911. The porch light comes on, the deputy shouts to the homeowner, “Keep the door shut.”
He continues urging Escobar to raise his hands and to stop, but he tries to break down the door while pulling out a handgun from his right rear jeans pocket. The deputy fires three times and Escobar falls to the ground.
“it’s very obvious that our deputy did everything right.” He tried to get his name, even telling Escobar his name, and said he was trying to help him. The man was a threat
Herrell described the deputy as patient and said he did everything he could to defuse imminent threat, not only to the homeowner but himself.
The deputy, who was not named in the report, was placed on administrative leave, which is normal procedure. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still investigating.
The report classified the offense as attempted burglary with a deadly weapon to an occupied dwelling and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.