Seal Beach police release video of January fatal shooting as D.A.’s investigation continues
Seal Beach police last week released officer body camera footage and an audio clip of a 911 call made from a local residence on Jan. 16 that ultimately led to the fatal police shooting of a 47-year-old man.
Two officers reportedly fired shots during the incident, still being investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office and under internal review.
In a video posted on social media on Friday, Chief Michael Henderson and Capt. Nick Nicholas offer a rundown of events that took place shortly after 9:30 p.m. that night on the 100 block of Old Ranch Road, when a woman called the police to report a man outside her home.
“There’s somebody banging on my door,” an unidentified woman is heard telling a 911 dispatcher in the recording, explaining her two children are also in the house. “Oh, my god — he’s kicking my door in.”
Although the caller says she doesn’t initially recognize the individual, she soon after identifies him to the dispatcher, describing him as an ex-boyfriend against whom she’d previously filed a restraining order.
In the video, which provides edited segments of footage, police arrive at the property and are shown on one officer’s body-worn camera engaging with the individual, later identified as Michael Bernard Emch Jr, 47, of Irvine.
Officers ask Emch to show his hands, identify himself and explain his relationship to the 911 caller. When he later fails to obey commands to raise his hands or take a seat, at least one officer is shown with his gun drawn.
Police threaten to use a taser to subdue Emch, seen with one hand inside his pants pocket, if he does not comply. As he makes his way back toward the residence, officers tase him and fire several rounds.
At one point, Emch is heard saying to police, “Finish me off” and is told to shut up. Orange County Fire Authority paramedics were called to the scene and transported Emch to nearby Hoag Hospital, where he died from injuries roughly one hour later, a family member confirmed Tuesday.
Nicholas explains on the video that Emch was found in possession of a loaded firearm that had been taken from concealment during the shooting. Spent shell casings from that gun, and another not belonging to police, were retrieved from the scene.
“A pointed metal weapon and three knives were located on his person. Additionally, a loaded magazine was located on Mr. Emch at the hospital,” Nicholas says, describing how a restraining order forbade Emch from being within 100 yards of the 911 caller or her residence.
SBPD spokeswoman Lt. Julia Clasby said the city has not recorded a fatal police shooting in more than 20 years, so created a “critical incident debriefing” video.
The act was a response to California’s Assembly Bill 748, which requires law enforcement agencies to share body-worn camera footage of most police shootings and other serious uses of force with the public within 45 days of the action taking place.
“It’s an opportunity for us to take control of our own narrative and give that context and clarification on the body-worn camera footage in our own voice without compromising any of the investigations,” Clasby said Tuesday.
“We have nothing to hide — this is part of our ongoing mission and message of transparency with our community.”
The spokeswoman said the video was shared with Emch’s family members ahead of the Friday release, a fact his sister, Christie Applefield, confirmed Tuesday.
Applefield said her brother, an electrician by trade, had been in town staying at a nearby motel to be close to a paying job and may have been dealing with mental illness when the shooting occurred.
Officers were responding to reports of a suspicious person on the 100 block of Old Ranch Road when the shooting happened.
“I think there was a little mental illness going on, and I think that was overlooked by doctors,” the Carlsbad resident said Tuesday, reflecting on how shocked she and her family were to hear her brother on video pleading to be killed.
“They shot so many times that, for somebody who was feeling so bad, it may have been easier in his mind (to die). All of us were just so heartbroken that had to be the end of it.” She added that she and the family are relieved no one else was injured that night.
Applefield said the Seal Beach Police Department website indicates officers learn de-escalation strategies as part of their training and wonders if that was a consideration the night of her brother’s death.
“If it had been de-escalated quickly, could it have turned out differently?” she wondered aloud.
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