By Ryan Mancini
masslive.com
LAKEVILLE, Mass. — Lakeville police released the body camera footage from an officer in connection with a shooting from Sept. 29 that injured one man and involved an off-duty Massachusetts State Police trooper, while also confirming the man who was shot carried a replica gun.
The shooting happened at around 3:45 a.m. near Pickens and Precinct streets, police said in a statement. A man got out of a car with what looked like a gun in his hand and approached a Lakeville officer who was watching traffic, police said. As the man approached, the officer turned on his body camera, the footage shows.
“Drop the f***ing gun, drop the f***ing gun right now!” the officer said to who police identified in the statement as Timothy Hladik, 45, of Lakeville, in the footage.
Hladik repeatedly responded to the officer’s demands with “Kill or be killed.” He appeared behind the officer, next to his cruiser. The officer backed toward a black SUV as Hladik emerged, again demanding he drop what appears to be a gun in his hand.
As the officer broke into a run next to the black SUV, another voice from an unknown man off camera also called out to Hladik to drop the gun. A shot rang out and Hladik said, “Well, you missed, motherf***er. Nice shot.”
The video shows the officer running toward a tree after Hladik moved toward the SUV. Hladik raised his arm at the officer before more shots are heard. Hladik did a heel turn after he was shot.
“Sir, just to let you know,” the other voice said to the panting officer. “Trooper with Mass. State Police.”
“Send rescue, I have one down,” the officer radioed in.
The Lakeville police statement said both the officer and the off-duty trooper fired their weapons and struck Hladik, without specifying who exactly shot him. Both men rendered emergency medical aid to Hladik, Lakeville police said.
Hladik was arrested and on Monday was arraigned from his hospital bed at St. Luke’s Hospital. He was charged with two counts each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and threat to commit a crime, the office said, and held without bail pending the outcome of his dangerousness hearing at noon on Oct. 12.
The officer and the trooper were placed on paid administrative leave, with their guns taken as part of the investigation, Lakeville police said. They added that this is “standard procedure in any police-involved shooting.”
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