The officer was halfway outside of the Del Sol when the suspect sped away
Footage released today (Sept. 23,2020) by Ogden, Utah police taken from four separate body cams shows the unbelievable moment when a suspect, initially pulled over for no seat belt, made the pivotal decision to turn a bad situation into a deadly one. When Ogden police attempt to extricate the suspect, identified as 23-year-old James Franklin, Franklin turns his keys, starts the Del Sol, and speeds away at literal breakneck speeds.
It should be noted this traffic stop and chase happened earlier this year on July 21,2020.
Check out the moment from an officer’s body cam when he’s dragged away and the full 9+ minutes of footage from four separate body cams posted on Youtube below.
According to a report by KUTV, police, as mentioned, initially stopped Franklin for no seat belt. The situation turned from bad to worse when police ran his plates and noticed that they did not match the Honda Del Sol.
At this point this means police would have to impound Franklin’s Del Sol, cite him for his no seat belt, and release him shortly after.
No jail time.
This did not sit well with Franklin and took his chances, making a break for it. I guess he thought he could outrun police.
By this time, two other officers were already there providing back up, witnessed Franklin gun it with an officer hanging out of the Del Sol, and gave chase.
This is where the chase unfortunately turned deadly.
“Then Franklin drove off again to crash head-on in an officer vehicle that was in another traffic stop.“
An officer wrote in his report,
“I estimated that [Franklin] was traveling at approximately 60 miles per hour as we began fighting over the steering wheel.”
And, according to a KUTV post on the incident when it first happened,
“Ogden Police say the suspect was critically injured and despite life-saving measures, he died at the scene.“
It’s worth noting although Franklin was initially stopped for no seat belt, footage shows he fastened his seatbelt after being stopped.