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Video Shows Mayhem Of Mina Shooting

Body-worn camera video footage that shows a Sheriff deputy being shot and another officer shooting and killing a man in Mina last month have been released.

State Attorney General Letitia James on Friday released footage from two body-worn cameras that her office obtained as part of its ongoing investigation into the death of 66-year-old Mark Bemis, who died on June 18 following an encounter with members of the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office.

The Office of Special Investigation of the Attorney General’s Office released footage from body-worn cameras that deputies were equipped with during the incident.

“The release of this footage follows Attorney General James’ directive that camera footage obtained by her office during an OSI investigation be released to the public to increase transparency and strengthen public trust in these matters,” the news release stated.

On the afternoon of June 18, deputies responded to a house in Mina after receiving a 911 call reporting a domestic incident. Upon arrival, deputies encountered Bemis, who was standing outside the house by the open garage, holding a long gun. Bemis and the deputies exchanged gunfire, and Bemis was struck and killed. Deputies recovered a shotgun at the scene.

One bodycam footage is a little more than 4 minutes long while the other is 5 minutes and 20 seconds long.

The shorter video is labeled “Deputy Summers” and the second video is labeled “Deputy Dietzal.” According to seethroughny.net, there is a Joshua Summers who works for the Sheriff’s Office. There is no “Dietzal,” however there is a Jacob Dietzel who works for the Sheriff’s Office.

In the beginning of the Summers video, the officer is pictured inside a vehicle with no sound. After about 30 seconds, you see the deputy parking the vehicle, crossing a road and then sound is heard.

A dog can be heard barking in the background as the deputy carries a long gun, placing it over his shoulder.

Around the 1 minute mark, another officer is heard yelling multiple times “put the gun down,” sometimes using expletives.

At one point the officer yells “put the gun down, we just want to talk” and later “I will f***** shoot you if you point it at me again.”

Summers is heard speaking about the 3 minute mark asking “Is he still there?” apparently over a two-way radio, talking to the other officer at the scene.

At about the 3:30 minute mark, multiple shots are fired and Summers talks to a woman and tells her to get behind a tree.

Shortly before the 4 minute mark it appears Summers shoots his gun, says “shots fired, shots fired” and then yells “Don’t touch the gun” as it appears someone has been shot.

Summers approaches the victim while calling for an ambulance on his two-way radio, saying “I got an officer down.”

An individual, who has been blurred out, is pictured lying on the garage floor after being shot. That was the end of the released video.

In the second video, sound begins at the 30 second mark. The suspect says to the officer “I’m going to plug your mother f**** a** away dude.”

The officer, in a calm voice, says “I’m just here to ask questions, man. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”

The officer suddenly yells and curses after apparently seeing a gun, telling the individual in the video to put the gun down. The officer pulls out his handgun and shots are fired while he walks backwards.

The suspect continues to curse at the officer.

The officer on his two-way radio states, “He fired one shot in the air, pointed his gun at me.”

The officer gets behind a tree and tells a woman to get inside.

A large dog approaches the officer around the 1:30 mark but the dog turns back to the house when apparently being called by the woman.

Many, many times the officer orders the man to put the gun down, saying they “just want to talk” but the man continues to yell back at the officer.

The man appears to be in the garage. Around the 4:40 mark, a shootout takes place between the officer and the suspect.

The officer looks down at his left hand just before the 5 minute mark and sees blood saying “I’ve been hit.”

Shots continued to be fired as the video ends.

In the news release from the Attorney General’s Office, it states, “The release of this footage is not an expression of any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of any party in a criminal matter or any opinion as to how or whether any individual may be charged with a crime.”

The video can be viewed at this link and contains content that viewers may find disturbing: https://ag.ny.gov/osi/footage/mark-bemis

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