INTERVIEW: Viewers receive intimate look at law enforcement on ‘Body Cam’
Photo: From left, former partners Sgt. David White (retired) and officer Brian Duman team up again on the new series Body Cam. Photo courtesy of Investigation Discovery / Provided by ID press site with permission.
Body Cam is the new reality series on Investigation Discovery that offers TV viewers an intimate look at law enforcement. Using body cam and dash cam footage from police officers in the field, the series pieces together cases and incidents with first-hand rawness from several police departments around the nation. On the first season, which premieres Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 10 p.m., audiences can expect a diverse array of police work, including responses to domestic violence calls and traffic stops.
The premiere episode features two law-enforcement stories, one from Uniontown, Ohio, and the other from Glendale, Ohio. The Uniontown incident involves a domestic violence dispute that turns violent and leaves Sgt. David White severely injured.
“The call, of course, was very intense, and it continued to evolve from the moment we got the call until it was over with,” White said in a recent phone interview. “It was fluid and constantly changing and moving based on the suspect. … There was never a chance to set up negotiations or anything like that, like you would see on some of the calls, some I might have even been on myself. This was a continuous, fluid incident until it was over with in about four of five minutes.”
White said he is looking forward to Body Cam filling in the gap between citizens and law enforcement, a gap that he has seen widening in the last several years. “We’re hoping to bridge that gap with this when people realize what we do,” he said. “When the crew came over here, they were here about four days. … They were very detailed, very good.”
The actual incident, which took place approximately two years ago, involved a dispute at a single-family home. He said the case utilized his extensive training, which kicked in almost like it was second nature.
“You need to arrive there safely and carefully because if we get killed or get hurt, we can’t help anybody else,” he said. “We were parked down the street and approached on foot, and that was the intention until we were coming up the street. And they were telling us shots have been fired over the radio, and as I got closer, I could see one of the parties running from the home. Then I see the other party.”
White said he needed to get himself between the suspect and the other person running from the home. He also needed to ascertain whether there was anyone else in the house at the time.
“Domestics are inherently dangerous,” he said. “It’s very fluid when you go to a domestic, and you don’t know what you’re going to have. Remember many homes in America have firearms in their homes. They have knives in their home. There’s plenty of weapons, so you have to be very careful. And also when we arrive on the scene, even if there are no weapons, we have now brought weapons to the scene.”
During the incident, White was shot several times. The first bullet hit the sergeant in the lower right abdomen. Two more rounds hit his wrist, almost in the same stop. One of those bullets traveled up his arm and came out the bicep during the shooting. The other one traveled up his arm and into his chest. White’s gun jammed, he said, and he eventually took another bullet in the shoulder.
The incident resulted in White undergoing eight surgeries to “fix everything and repair everything.” It was the last active police work he took part in.
“Finally after 15 months, I just recently was cut loose by my surgeons that I had,” he said. “My surgeon said based on my stomach and the damage to it, he could never allow me to go back to law enforcement.”
Stories like White’s are the subject of Body Cam, and the footage — sometimes shaky and always intense — offers viewers a chance to see the incidents from an officer’s viewpoint.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Body Cam premieres Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 10 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. Click here for more information.
