Both the officer and the suspect were reported by police to be in stable condition following the incident. By Tuesday the officer had been released from the hospital.
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins played several videos from the involved officers’ body-worn cameras during a Tuesday
press conference
as he credited the officers for using restraint and trying to deescalate the situation after the man had already stabbed one officer.
“I mentioned yesterday about the extraordinary amount of restraint that was used by the officer that fired the weapon, this is an example of that. This person had just made a second assault against this officer inches away from that officer’s head with that weapon, was making no indication that he was stopping the assault,” Hawkins said during the press conference. “That officer, at that moment, it may be even shortly before this moment that you see right now, would have been justified in continuing lethal force in order to stop an assault. This officer had the conscious awareness at this point to understand that maybe there's a different way that this can be resolved.”
Rather than firing additional rounds at the armed suspect, the officer is heard telling him to put the weapon down because he wanted to render aid to the man after shooting him. The wounded officer is also heard asking for a tourniquet for his injured arm.
