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		</div><h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>Baltimore County police officer who shot an unarmed male driver, multiple times, during a November traffic stop on Interstate 83, will not face criminal charges </strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>Officer Page, a 21-year veteran is back on active duty, the county police dept announced Thursday, while releasing body-worn camera footage as well as 911 and police radio recordings</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>Police tracked down 48-year-old Eric Sopp, after receiving a call from his mum on Nov. 26 that her son had threatened to kill himself and may have been driving while intoxicated</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>Police body camera footage showed the officer telling Sopp not to get out the car</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>The cop now identified as officer Page then shoots the driver eight times and kills him after he insisted he would and actually got out of his car despite being told to stay in the vehicle</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>Although criminal charges will not be filed against the officer, Sopp&#8217;s family said &#8216;shooting an unarmed man eight times&#8217; was &#8216;unnecessary&#8217; and have been exploring their legal options</strong></span></h6>
<h6><span style="color: #453636;"><strong>Catherine Sopp through her lawyer said there was no reason for the officer to fatally shoot her son &#8211; &#8216;I never imagined that when I called 911 to protect my son and others from him driving drunk, it would cost him his life&#8217;</strong></span></h6>
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<h6 class="mol-para-with-font"><span style="color: var(--color-text);"><img class="alignnone wp-image-342240" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Baltimore-cop-approaches-Eric-Sopps-car-with-his-gun-drawn-and-asked-him-to-stay-in-the-vehicle.jpg" alt="Baltimore cop approaches Eric Sopp's car with his gun drawn and asked him to stay in the vehicle" width="811" height="520" /><strong>Captured on body cam: The police officer approached the victim, Eric Sopp&#8217;s car with his gun drawn, and asked him to stay in the vehicle. Sopp refused to comply</strong></span></h6>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">Body cam footage has been released showing the moment a police officer shot an unarmed driver eight times and killed him.<br />
Driver Eric Sopp was gunned down after refusing to stay in his vehicle and continued to get out despite being repeatedly told to remain inside.<br />
<span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><amp-youtube data-videoid="z5QjArA-usc" data-param-rel="1" data-param-showsearch="0" data-param-showinfo="1" data-param-iv_load_policy="1" data-param-fs="1" data-param-hl="en-US" data-param-autohide="2" data-param-wmode="transparent" width="560" height="315" layout="responsive"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5QjArA-usc" placeholder><amp-img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z5QjArA-usc/hqdefault.jpg" alt="YouTube Poster" layout="fill" object-fit="cover"><noscript><img src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z5QjArA-usc/hqdefault.jpg" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="YouTube Poster"></noscript></amp-img></a></amp-youtube></span><br />
The cop, identified as Officer Page, could be heard yelling &#8216;don&#8217;t get out of the car&#8217; before opening fire on the 48-year-old in the harrowing police footage.<br />
Criminal charges will not be filed against the officer in Maryland who fatally shot Sopp, who had been accused of threatening to hurt himself and others.<br />
Baltimore County police announced the prosecutors&#8217; decision and released body camera video and 911 audio on Thursday in the shooting.<br />
The victim&#8217;s mother, Catherine Sopp, called police last November 26 to report that her son had threatened to kill himself and may be driving while intoxicated.<br />
In the body camera footage released by the department, an officer can be seen telling Sopp to put his Toyota Camry in park at the side of Interstate 83 and place his hands on the dashboard.</p>
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<h6><img class="alignnone wp-image-342241" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Body-camera-footage-showed-the-Baltimore-police-officer-shooting-driver-Eric-Sopp-1.jpg" alt="Body camera footage showed the Baltimore police officer shooting driver Eric Sopp 1" width="825" height="451" /><strong>Excessive force?: Body cam captures Baltimore police officer fatally opening fire. <span style="color: var(--color-text);">The footage showed the officer shooting driver Eric Sopp after he got out of his vehicle despite being told to remain inside </span></strong></h6>
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<div class="mobile-gallery-icon"><span style="color: var(--color-text);">The officer appears to be approaching Sopp&#8217;s car with his gun drawn and asked him to stay in the vehicle. th cop late identified by the department as officer Page,</span> walked up to the window he told the driver: &#8216;Please put your hands on the dash. Turn your car off.&#8217;<br />
Sopp repeatedly refused the command, saying: &#8216;I will not turn my car off. I&#8217;m getting out.&#8217;<br />
The officer is heard speaking into his police radio that the driver of the vehicle was &#8216;refusing his commands&#8217;.<br />
He then moved from the passenger side of the Toyota Camry and went to the back and raised his voice, telling him: &#8216;Don&#8217;t get out of the car, sir. Don&#8217;t get out of the car! Don&#8217;t get out of the car!&#8217;<br />
When Sopp got out of the vehicle, the officer fires eight times.<br />
While the officer involved in the shooting was identified by Baltimore County Police Department as Officer Page. His first name was not released, but a November release from police said he had been on the force for 21 years.<br />
The <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/bs-md-co-cr-i83-shooting-video-20200227-j264p6t6kbbxvhbxs5jocdm3bm-story.html">Baltimore Sun</a> reports that County Deputy State&#8217;s Attorney Robin Coffin called the shooting &#8216;justified&#8217; in a letter to county Police Chief Melissa Hyatt.</div>
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<h6><strong><span style="color: var(--color-text);"><img class="alignnone wp-image-342271" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Eric-Sopp-2.jpeg" alt="Eric Sopp 2" width="718" height="718" />The victim&#8217;s family has decried the killing of Eric Sopp [photo], stating that &#8216;shooting an unarmed man eight times&#8217; an &#8216;unnecessary use of force by a police officer&#8217;</span></strong></h6>
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<h6><span style="color: var(--color-text);"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-342248" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Body-camera-footage-showed-the-Baltimore-police-officer-shooting-driver-Eric-Sopp-2-1.jpg" alt="Body camera footage showed the Baltimore police officer shooting driver Eric Sopp 2" width="681" height="454" /><strong>Baltimore County police said prosecutors&#8217; were not filing charges and released body camera video and 911 audio of the shooting which offers a narrative of both victim and shooter&#8217;s actions at the time</strong></span></h6>
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<div><span style="color: var(--color-text);">The state&#8217;s attorney&#8217;s office declined to press charges against the officer.</span></div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">No weapon was recovered from Sopp&#8217;s body after the shooting.<br />
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Vickie Wareheim declined to say whether a weapon was found in the vehicle or at the scene.<br />
<span style="color: var(--color-text);">Sopp had been drinking for a few days and his mother wanted him found before he hurt himself or others.<br />
</span><span style="color: var(--color-text);"> An attorney for Sopp&#8217;s family said they are exploring their legal options. In a counter, </span><span style="color: var(--color-text);">Chelsea Crawford, representing Sopp’s family, said that the footage released Thursday shows Page used an “excess, lethal amount of force that was completely unnecessary.”<br />
</span><span style="color: var(--color-text);">“He knew Mr. Sopp didn’t have a weapon on him,” said Crawford, pointing to the fact a dispatcher told investigating officers prior to the traffic stop that there was “no indication” Sopp had the ice pick in the vehicle with him.<br />
</span><span style="color: var(--color-text);">“The body camera footage shows that the officer who shot Mr. Sopp had his gun drawn and finger on the trigger when he approached Mr. Sopp’s Car,” Crawford wrote in a statement. “When the unarmed Mr. Sopp, with nothing in his hands, got out of the car after the officer told him not to, the officer shot him eight times.”<br />
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<h6 class="mobile-gallery-icon"><span style="color: var(--color-text);"><img class="alignnone wp-image-342253" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Baltimore-cop-approaches-Eric-Sopps-car-with-his-gun-drawn-and-asked-him-to-stay-in-the-vehicle-2.jpg" alt="Baltimore cop approaches Eric Sopp's car with his gun drawn and asked him to stay in the vehicle 2" width="835" height="542" /><strong>The footage shows the officer pull over and approach Sopp&#8217;s car gun drawn, then repeatedly shouts at the driver to put his hands on the dash and not to get out of the vehicle</strong></span></h6>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font"><span style="color: var(--color-text);">The victim&#8217;s mother </span>Catherine Sopp released a statement through an attorney Thursday, saying there was no reason for the officer to fatally shoot her son.<br />
&#8216;I never imagined that when I called 911 to protect my son and others from him driving drunk, it would cost him his life,&#8217; the grieving mother said.<br />
In her 911 call, Catherine Sopp told the operator her son hes &#8216;picked up a log and was looking for a knife&#8217; and that he was also &#8216;putting an ice pick to his neck&#8217;.<br />
Sopp&#8217;s family also called the &#8216;shooting an unarmed man eight times&#8217; an &#8216;unnecessary use of force by a police officer&#8217;.<br />
Shortly after the shooting Catherine Sopp revealed that her son had a history of depression and anxiety and she’d called police to file a missing persons report after he broke several phones and threatened to hurt himself with an ice pick before leaving the residence in a vehicle.<br />
In a statement, Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt said: &#8216;The men and women in our Police Department encounter uncertain situations and make split-second decisions every day.<br />
&#8216;Releasing video of someone losing his life is never taken lightly. The release of today&#8217;s video is in alignment with our recently announced BWC Release Policy and the Maryland Public Information Act. The internal investigation into this incident is ongoing.&#8217;</p>
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Baltimore County cop will not be charged for November fatal shooting as department release video footage – showing Officer Page shooting unarmed driver, Eric Sopp, eight times after he ignored warnings and stepped got out of his car
