Shocking body camera footage shows the disturbing moment a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed by a man who refused to get out of his car during a traffic stop.
Blount County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg McCowan, 43, was shot and killed after using a stun gun on a man who was stopped for driving erratically on February 8.
McCowan, who is a father and grandfather, and Deputy Shelby Eggers stopped Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr., who was driving a pickup truck in the 4900 block of Sevierville Road in Maryville around 8:30 p.m.
The video shows McCowan using his Taser on DeHart, 42, after he refused to comply with officers and DeHart is heard screaming and writhing in pain.
While the Taser was being used, DeHart slammed the door, pointed his gun out the window, and shot both officers.
Dash camera footage shows DeHart firing an additional shot before driving away and is heard saying, “I told you motherfuckers.”
Blount County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg McCowan, 43, was shot and killed after firing a Taser at Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr., who was stopped for erratic driving on Feb. 8.
While being Tasered, DeHart slammed the door, pointed his gun out the window and shot both officers.
McCowan immediately fell and Eggers, 22, retreated to his patrol car.
Officers Greg McCowan and Shelby Eggers stopped Kenneth Wayne DeHart Jr., who was driving a pickup truck in the 4900 block of Sevierville Road in Maryville, around 8:30 p.m.
McCowan fell immediately after being shot at point-blank range and Eggers, 22, retreated to his patrol car.
Eggers initially stopped DeHart and told him he was driving on the wrong side of the road.
She asked him to get out of the vehicle because she suspected he smoked marijuana.
DeHart denied smoking marijuana and said he was in his grandmother’s car driving home from his son’s high school sports game. He told the officer that he was tying his hair and did not notice his car swerving.
“I’m black and they’re just being nasty…I refuse,” DeHart told his grandmother, who he was talking to on the phone when Eggers asked him to get out of the car.
“They just pulled me over for no reason, they see my fucking hair up, I’m black with dreadlocks and they’re making this mess for no reason.”
The deputy explained that the registration cannot be denied and if you smell marijuana you have probable cause to search the vehicle.
“This is racism,” DeHart said when McCowan told him to listen to Eggers’ orders.
“I don’t care what color you are, man, she gave you a legal order,” McCowan said.
The officers repeatedly told him to get out of the car and DeHart refused, insisting he had done nothing wrong.
“I’m recording this… I wasn’t on the wrong side of the road,” DeHart said.
“I didn’t do anything, please don’t do this to me,” DeHart said after being Tasered for the first time.
It was then, as the police continued to taser him and DeHart continued to close the door, that he pulled out a gun, pointed it through the window and shot at the officers.
Eggers was shot in the leg and footage shows he attempted to put on a tourniquet. McCowan was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.
McCowan is survived by his fiancee Leah Lane, two sons and a granddaughter. McCowan began his law enforcement career in 2020 after graduating from a training class and was praised in 2021 for helping save the life of a man trapped in a burning vehicle.
The video shows McCowan using his Taser on DeHart after he refused to comply with officers and DeHart is heard screaming and writhing in pain.
DeHart was arrested after a five-day manhunt and appeared in Blount County General Sessions Court in Maryville, Tennessee, on Thursday.
DeHart was arrested Tuesday after a five-day manhunt and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and felony possession of a weapon.
He made his first court appearance Thursday and was arraigned, but has not yet entered a plea.
DeHart’s brother, Marcus DeHart, was arrested for helping his brother after the shooting and is charged with being an accessory to a crime, reported WBIR.
At McCowan’s funeral, he was remembered for his service to others even before following his dream of becoming a law enforcement officer.
‘If you were in danger, he would be in danger for you before he even became a police officer. That was just Greg,” said his friend Greg Willis.
‘He went out to do what he loved. That was her dream: to be a police officer. What more could you ask for than to go out and do what you love?’
