BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — Body camera footage has been released Friday, showing the moments before one Tennessee deputy was killed and another injured.
Kenneth DeHart was placed in police custody this week after a days-long manhunt. He has since been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Footage from the shooting shows Blount County Sheriff's Office Deputy Shelby Eggers pulling over Kenneth DeHart for a traffic stop. Dash camera video shows he entered the opposite lane of travel before Eggers pulled him over on the highway.
Editor's note: The body camera footage at the top of the story shows what happened in its entirety from a dash camera and body camera perspective. This has not been edited. Viewer discretion is advised.
He told the officer he had five kids, and he had left the game of his 15-year-old son, who had been injured in a game.
"I was just putting my hair up," DeHart said to Eggers. "I want to go home and take a shower."
Moments go back and forth about insurance information, as DeHart explained this wasn't his SUV. Instead, it was his grandmother's. He placed his grandmother on speaker phone while Eggers communicated with him.
"I smell weed in the car," Eggers said.
She requested he get out of the car.
"This is my Mamaw's car," DeHart said back. "There ain't no weed here. Don't do me like that. Nobody I know smokes weed. It's because I am Black and they are being messy. I am refusing the search."
"There is no refusing," she said.
"Tell your partner to come sniff," he said.
"I am not trying to be messy with you, brother. I am trying to make this easy," she said.
"Mamaw, I don't know what's going on," DeHart said to his grandmother while she was still on the phone with her. "They are trying to be messy. They see I am Black with dreads."
"I am refusing the search," DeHart said to Eggers. "Get a dog."
While the two went back and forth, Eggers had Greg McCowan come and try to persuade DeHart to leave the vehicle. Instead, he kept his seat belt buckled and remained in the car.
McCowan tazed DeHart twice, and they tried to unbuckle his seat belt to remove Dehart from the driver's seat.
"I am not doing nothing wrong," he said. "I am not doing nothing wrong."
While being tazed a third time, DeHart opened gunfire, hitting both McCowan and Eggers.
"I told you motherf—er," DeHart said. He opened his car door again and shot again at Eggers.
McCowan never moved on the ground. Meanwhile, DeHart put his vehicle into drive.
Eggers requested backup and fired at DeHart's vehicle.
DeHart drove away.
