Body camera and blue light camera video released Tuesday by the Rochester Police Department shows a shootout between officers and a homicide suspect one month ago on the city’s north side.
Footage compiled from multiple sources shows two officers in a police car southbound on North Clinton Avenue at 11:40 a.m. June 22, when they notice Edison Estremera-Cohen, 34, wanted for a fatal shooting earlier in the morning, biking southbound.
The officer in the passenger seat can be heard telling the officer driving the car to pull in front of Estremera-Cohen and block him. The driver replies, “I can’t run the guy over.”
The police car then stops at LaForce Street, with Estremera-Cohen turning around and ran north as the two officers get out and chase him. A trailing officer can be seen running toward Estremera-Cohen, forcing him to turn onto Mead Street.
Just as the third officer knocks Estremera-Cohen to the ground, a gunshot can be heard and Estremera-Cohen appears to drop a gun as he falls to the ground. Estremera-Cohen then gets up and is tackled back to the ground by the officer, while the officer who got out of the passenger seat fires three shots at Estremera-Cohen at 11:41 a.m., 32 seconds after the video began.
“Make no mistake about this,” said Paul Dondorfer, executive vice president of the Rochester Police Locust Club. “The actions that occurred by the police were a reaction to what that individual chose to do. He chose to run. He chose to have a gun in his hand.”
Estremera-Cohen is seen being handcuffed as officers call for medical gear to treat the gunshot as the video ends at 11:42 a.m.
“They didn’t dump 100 rounds into him,” Dondorfer said. “They shot until that threat was done, and then they rendered aid to him. So yes, something else could have done, could have happened if that individual could have complied with a lawful order to stop and not had an illegal handgun and not taken a shot at a police officer.”
Police said they were looking for Estremera-Cohen after he shot David Vazquez, 30, several times at point-blank range during an argument behind a drug house on Oscar Street around 6 a.m. that day, killing Vazquez, who was found about an hour later.
BACKGROUND:Â Suspect charged for Rochester homicide, shootout with police officers during foot chase
Rochester Police Chief David Smith said Estremera-Cohen was known to law enforcement and never showed up for sentencing after being convicted of two felonies last summer.
After being hospitalized for his injuries, Estremera-Cohen was booked June 26 in the Monroe County Jail, according to jail records. He was indicted last week on charges of murder, attempted aggravated murder of a police officer, robbery and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
Police said the third officer, who narrowly avoided gunfire, had head and ear injuries from the muzzle flash on Estremera-Cohen’s gun, but Smith said the officer was “doing well.”
Two of the three officers involved have returned to full duty, according to Captain Greg Bello, while the other is on administrative duty. The incident remains under internal investigation.
