Shocking body camera footage captured the moment a police officer latched onto a speeding suspect’s car before shooting him dead.
Police in Buffalo, New York, released footage following Wednesday’s fatal shooting, showing the traffic stop turning chaotic as suspect Daevon Roberts, 25, attempts to flee the scene.
Officer Ronald Ammerman initially stopped Roberts for speeding and tinted windows, and police found a 6-year-old relative in his passenger seat without a seat belt on.
Roberts stepped on the accelerator while Ammerman had his arm over the car and his leg inside the door, and the officer’s body camera showed him pleading for the officer to stop and telling Roberts: “You’re going to kill me, bro.”
Body camera footage captured the moment a police officer pulled over 25-year-old Daevon Roberts, who sped away from the traffic stop with the officer still in his car before he was shot and killed.
The footage shows police officer Ronald Ammerman clinging for dear life to the side of the speeding vehicle, warning Roberts: “You’re going to kill me, bro.”
Police launched an investigation after Ammerman shot Roberts six times during the altercation, and Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia concluded it was a lawful killing.
“I think it was a justified use of force what happened the other night,” Gramaglia said at a news conference.
“Considering the fact that the officer was at serious risk of serious physical injury or death, the use of that level of force is justified under the law and I believe it is a justified use of force in this case.”
In the footage, Ammerman is heard asking Roberts for his ID, but the suspect only showed a photo of a Georgia license on his phone.
Ammerman checked the license number and discovered it was invalid, leading Roberts to claim the car he was driving belonged to his sister.
He said he gets pulled over for tinting windows “every day,” but as Ammerman stands by him for several more seconds, Roberts decides to try to flee.
The video shows Ammerman desperately clinging to the side of the car as Roberts accelerated to more than 60 mph.
Daevon Roberts, 25, died in the incident and was facing charges of attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon at the time of his death.
Ammerman initially pulled Roberts over for speeding and tinted windows, and police found a 6-year-old relative in his passenger seat without a seat belt.
Separate images from Ammerman’s partner showed the vehicle speeding away from the scene.
Roberts was shot six times in the chaotic scenes and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Roberts appeared to try to throw the officer out of his car, before Ammerman fired several shots at the vehicle and it came to a stop.
The six-year-old boy who was in the car was uninjured in the incident and Ammerman was seen running to his side of the car as he stood up.
It is unclear how the boy is related to Roberts, who calls him cousin and nephew in the images.
Roberts was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to reports. VMI.
When police searched his vehicle, they found a gun loaded with seven bullets under the driver’s seat.
Both officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, and Gramaglia praised his officers’ efforts after the chaotic incident, saying that such situations “don’t happen at a training facility.”
“This is real life, there’s not a lot of control over how some of these situations play out. We can train for different situations, but when it happens in real life, when there are real situations, they always happen differently than they do in a training facility,” he said.
It was later learned that Roberts is the half-brother of Jaylen Griffin, a 12-year-old Buffalo boy who went missing in August 2020 and whose body was later found in a home in April 2024.
Roberts is the half-brother of Jaylen Griffin (pictured), a 12-year-old Buffalo boy who went missing in August 2020 and whose body was later found in a home in April 2024.
At a memorial service for Griffin in April, Roberts was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, recklessly endangering others and criminal mischief after allegedly firing shots during the ceremony.
He was later indicted in June and his charges were upgraded to attempted first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Gramaglia said at his news conference that the family “has been through a lot in the last few years.”
“It’s a very sad situation overall.”
Buffalo homicide detectives and the Internal Affairs Division are also conducting separate investigations into the shooting.
