NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — New bodycam footage of a botched police raid shows officers with guns drawn inside a home with kids inside.
Much of what can be seen in the video is confirming some of the concerns that many in the Edgehill community have long held about what happened that Tuesday morning.
At 6:05 a.m., Azaria Hines woke up to the sound of Metro Nashville police officers knocking on her front door. The video faintly picks up the sound of Hines explaining that she didn’t have any clothes on.
When we finally see her, she’s still getting dressed. That’s when officers, armed with rifles and handguns, began searching for their suspect.
Officers pointed their weapons at the top of the stairs, as Azaria’s children began to appear. Azaria is heard pleading with officers to spare her children.
It’s an image that’s stayed with Brenda Morrow who is president of the resident association for Edgehill Apartments.
She told NewsChannel 5 she made a point of finding Azaria and reassure her that she has the community’s full support.
“I thought about her. I thought about how nervous she was which was understandable. I thought about the fact that she’s got to be scared to death,” Morrow said.
News of what happened began to circulate with neighbors and even officers condemning what happened as inexcusable.
Officer William Hudson says while the video is troubling, he credits people like Morrow for helping the community not lose faith in the officers who have worked for years to build trust.
“Everybody is still waving. We’re still having good conversations with folks and that’s not to say folks aren’t angry. They are and they should be, but they have not completely turned their backs on us,” Hudson said.
Before the interview, Brenda asked us why we hadn't interviewed any officers. We explained how protocol with most police departments makes it impossible to speak with any one officer who wasn't in a supervisory role.
She made one call and maybe 10 minutes later, we were joined by officer Hudson. The point was this, the officers who they usually see, they can still count on.
“The reason I say our officers is because we have worked many years to develop great relationships with our officers,” Morrow said.
Hudson calls it a blessing to work so closely with the Edgehill community. He and the more than a dozen officers who are part of the community engagement team patrol on their bikes through the neighborhood routinely making stops to talk with neighbors.
Hudson considers it a personal challenge to find those who he hasn’t spoken to and give them a different perspective on policing than they’ve typically seen.
Sometimes that means talking about their hobbies and shared interests, but Hudson says it’s all about opening that line of communication.
“We’re doing everything we can to not let something like this happen again. All the way from the chief down,” Hudson said.
Interim Chief John Drake first announced that same week that Metro Nashville Police was suspending all search warrants unless they were approved by a deputy chief. The announcement also came with notice of additional training for tactical units on obtaining more surveillance before executing search warrants.
Chief Drake has said “stale” information was obtained from the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency in order to track down the suspect.
Officers Jeff Brown, Harrison Dooley and Michael Richardson were decommissioned while the office of professional accountability conducts an investigation into why officers used force on a warrant that did not involve a violent crime.
READ MORE:
'This shouldn't have happened.' MNPD raids wrong home; officers decommissioned
Interim police chief: Changes coming after MNPD raids wrong home, use of force was ‘not appropriate’
After botched raid, Edgehill neighbors want follow through on new police changes
