COVINGTON, Ky. — Body camera footage released by the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Office shows the moments leading up to officers shooting and killing 34-year-old Charles Neace.
Police responded to the Cambridge Square Apartments at around 1:30 a.m. March 14 after someone called 911 reporting a man "beating on" an apartment door with a butcher knife.
RELATED | Coroner identifies man shot, killed by officers at Northern Kentucky apartment complex
When they arrived, body camera footage shows two officers rushing towards Neace, yelling, "Let me see your hands!" Both officers are pointing their guns at him.
Neace walks toward the officers, squaring up as if he is going to physically fight them.
"Put down the knife," the officers yell.
"Put it down, I don't want to shoot you," one of the officers yells as the other officer directs someone at the complex to go back inside.
Neace pauses, putting his hands behind his back as the officers continue to yell at him to put the knife down. He appears to say, "Come on," before once again walking toward the officers.
As he gets closer, both officers fire their guns. Neace immediately falls to the ground.
Officers continue to yell at Neace, screaming, "Drop the knife!"
Another person can be heard screaming from a distance.
Police said Neace was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said Thursday he found no probable cause that the two officers, identified as Officers Brad Morris and Sean Sinacori, violated any Kentucky laws.
"The BWC video indisputably shows Neace was the aggressor and charged the officers in a manner all reasonable persons would view as threatening," Sanders said in a letter to Kentucky State Police. "Neace ignored repeated, lawful commands to stop, and drop the knife. Thus, Morris and Sinacori’s decisions to use force to repel the threat of imminent force against them was lawful."
Neace's longtime girlfriend, Mekisha Asher, said she was there as officers opened fire.
RELATED | Longtime girlfriend of man shot, killed by Covington police says he had schizophrenic episode
Asher said her boyfriend meant no harm, but was banging on their neighbor's door because he was having a schizophrenic episode and hearing voices.
"He'd just been battling them all day and just kept getting worse and worse and I didn't know what to do," Asher told WCPO.
Asher said she had wanted the officers to Tase Neace, but Sanders rejected the idea that the officers were obligated to use less-than-lethal force.
"Kentucky law does not require you to use less than lethal force in hopes that you won't be killed," he said. "They're authorized to use deadly force, they're trained, under those circumstances, to use deadly force, and, quite frankly, I've seen multiple police body camera videos where people are Tased and the Tasing has no effect."
Sanders said he'd written a letter to KSP investigators looking into the shooting making it clear there would be no criminal charges in the case.
"If somebody is going to be foolish enough to provoke an armed confrontation with law enforcement, like Mr. Neace did, they can expect the same result," he said.
No neighbors or officers were injured in the incident, police said.
Correction: A previously version of this article erroneously said that the body came footage was released by the Covington Police Department.
