Body camera videos obtained by The Charlotte Observer show the Pineville police encounter and fatal shooting of an unarmed man who, family members say, was suffering a mental health crisis.
Sgt. Adam Roberts shot Dennis Bodden on May 14 after a shoplifting call at the Johnston Road Plaza Food Lion when Bodden took items from the store and walked out. The videos show that just after handcuffing the wounded man, Officer Randall Down told Roberts, “We got him. Good guys always win.”
The police response stemmed from a report that Bodden had taken wine and produce from the store. Roberts’ body camera video shows how he first confronted Bodden and walked with him to an apartment complex where Bodden lived. Bodden was aloof and not responsive for much of the encounter.
Instead, he kept slowly walking as Roberts told him to get on the ground.
Mecklenburg Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Carla Archie on Thursday ordered that police in the small town just south of Charlotte provide copies of four videos to the Observer.
The order followed two separate hearings on Wednesday, in which the Observer and Bodden’s mother, Cleopatra Bodden, requested the footage.
Body camera videos from Roberts and Down show how the incident escalated in about five minutes from Roberts’ initial confrontation with Bodden to his shooting of him after Down arrived to assist, as well as officers’ attempts to keep Bodden alive.
Bodden continued walking away even after he was shot, then fell down, then stood and took some more steps before collapsing, the videos show. After the two officers handcuffed him he told them, “I think I’m having a panic attack.”
“I ain’t a bad guy,” Bodden told them, his breathing labored. The officers also used Tasers before the shooting.
After he was shot and handcuffed, Bodden asked if he could stand up and appeared to say that he could not breathe.
“Subject is on the ground and he is in cuffs. Both officers on scene are 10-4,” Down said into his police radio.
Someone over the radio asked in response, “Has anyone been hit with gunfire?”
“Negative,” Roberts and Down answered.
About a minute later, they announced that Bodden had been shot.
Pineville police declined to comment Friday on the videos, but said they will issue a “Critical Incident Briefing video” Saturday afternoon.
What the videos show
Roberts approached a raincoat-clad Bodden in the Food Lion parking lot. Bodden was wearing large headphones over his ears with the hood of his raincoat over his head.
Roberts told him to stop, but Bodden kept walking. When Roberts got close, Bodden turned around and yelled, apparently startled.
“Better back up,” Roberts told Bodden as he pulled out a Taser and pointed it at him. Roberts walked backwards and in front of Bodden, and then behind him again, while telling him to “get on the ground.”
And then — despite the two not touching each other — Roberts told a dispatcher that Bodden had already “tried to push off on me.”
Bodden walked towards Johnston Road, and started to step into traffic, cars whizzing by. Roberts grabbed him, pulled him out of the road and again told him to get on the ground.
“You almost just died, dude,” Roberts told him. “Do not walk in that traffic.”
“Sorry?” Bodden said.
He did it again. Cars stopped for him and Roberts, and the two struggled in the road’s median.
“Get on the f—ing ground!” Roberts told Bodden. Though the view in the footage from Roberts’ camera is obstructed, Bodden bit Roberts and Roberts Tased him.
Bodden got up and walked to the apartment complex.
“You ain’t getting away, bro,” Roberts said, shoving Bodden’s shoulder with one hand. Then they shoved each other.
Down arrived in his squad car and sprinted to the scene, his Taser in hand. When Bodden saw him, he ran towards him. Then Bodden sprinted back to Roberts, who had pulled out his gun.
Bodden charged at Roberts. Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather concluded that he “appeared to reach” for Roberts’ gun as Roberts pulled it away.
“Get him! Get him!” Down shouted before Roberts shot Bodden three times.
“Get him!” Down said again as Bodden kept walking away after being shot.
Footage shows Roberts, Down and other police trying to stop Bodden’s bleeding in the shooting’s aftermath.
Police addressed Bodden after the shooting as “Mr. Massey.”
Roberts cleared of wrongdoing
Merriweather and Bodden’s mother, Cleopatra Bodden, have already viewed the video footage. She said in court earlier this week that she wanted the public to see the full police videos.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg homicide investigators have determined that Roberts, who also shot and injured a man in Pineville in 2020, should not be charged with any crime for shooting Bodden.
CMPD investigated because although the Food Lion is in Pineville, the apartment complex where the shooting happened was across the street in Charlotte.
Merriweather announced July 2 that he concurred with CMPD’s decision, but issued a letter questioning some of the police actions.
Merriweather’s letter also said a civilian witness said Roberts “had no other choice” but to shoot.
Family has concerns
For years, Bodden’s job was to help people suffering from mental illness. He was a senior attorney at the Mental Hygiene Legal Service in New York from 2015 to 2019, his old employer confirmed to the Observer.
Family members have said that Bodden suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and his mental health degraded during the pandemic. He would mistakenly take things from Food Lion, believing it to be his home, they said.
“From the beginning I did not think that I would get a fair trial, and I did not,” Cleopatra Bodden said after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police declined to charge Roberts. “They say they were independent. I don’t think they’re independent. They are all from Mecklenburg County.”
A Pineville police statement published on May 15 said Bodden “was very well known to Pineville Police as being a chronic shoplifting suspect at this Food Lion” and said Bodden had “violent tendencies towards police and the public.”
Radio communications and 911 call recordings previously obtained through a public records request by the Observer provide some detail of the events that were not captured on the body camera footage.
“I got the same guy who keeps coming in here, shoplifting,” a 911 caller said. “Right now he’s in the produce department, making his rounds. It’s the same guy your officer keeps coming for.”
Roberts was off duty but in uniform, working for a nearby shopping center, and responded to the call.
“I think the guy has warrants,” Roberts said on his police radio. “Is he wearing underwear again?”
After Cleopatra Bodden held a press conference in June calling for the release of body camera footage, Pineville police issued another statement that said they were not aware of Dennis Bodden’s mental health status.
Cleopatra Bodden was not convinced. She said it was clear from her son’s reactions he was not acting rationally.
“If you tell someone to stop … and they’re not reacting, you should know that there is something else going on — that that person is not stable,” she said. “And they didn’t take that into consideration.”
What happened inside Food Lion
A video released to the Observer on Friday showed another police officer speaking with Food Lion employees, interviewing them and jotting down what they saw Bodden take.
The officer asked an employee what Bodden concealed. The worker pointed out different items: bottles of wine, apples, oranges and onions.
All told, it was worth about $100.
Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
