By Kale Williams
oregonlive.com
CORVALLIS, Ore. — A Philomath man armed with a knife chased an officer and screamed “do you want to die?” before he was fatally shot by police early Saturday, according to video of the incident released by prosecutors.
Corvallis police officers responded about 3:45 a.m. to reports of an aggressive man, later identified as 32-year-old Jeffrey Appelt, trying to get into guest rooms at a Days Inn hotel, 1113 N.W. 9th St.
Body-camera footage shows the first officer on the scene contacted Appelt near the front doors of the hotel. There is no audio for the first few seconds of the encounter, but after a moment the officer can be heard asking Appelt, “What’s going on?”
“Leave me alone!” Appelt can be heard saying before chasing the officer and yelling, “I’ll kill you!”
In a statement, the Benton County District Attorney’s Office said the officer saw Appelt pull something from his pocket before pursuing the officer through the parking lot.
The officer pulled his stun gun as he ran from Appelt, the video shows, and Appelt can be seen with an object in his hand. The officer’s stun gun can be heard going off in the video footage, but it’s unclear if Appelt was actually hit.
Appelt then moved back toward the entrance of the hotel, the video shows, as the officer yelled, “He’s got a knife in his hand. As Appelt attempted to reenter the hotel, a second officer tried to take him into custody, but Appelt was able to break free of his grip and flee in the opposite direction toward a third officer that was approaching in a patrol vehicle.
That officer stopped his car, got out and yelled, “Stop! Drop the knife!” as Appelt advanced toward him, the video shows. Appelt is seen in the video with an object in his hand and again is heard verbally threatening to kill the officer.
“When Appelt came in close proximity to the officer, and his open patrol vehicle in which there was a loaded AR15- rifle and shotgun, the third officer fired his pistol,” Benton County prosecutors said in a statement.
The dashboard camera from the patrol vehicle does not show the actual shooting, but five shots can be heard. It was unclear what happened off camera, but officials said Appelt was “was struck multiple times.”
The officers attempted to aid Appelt, officials said, but he died at the scene. The district attorney’s office said two knives were found at the scene, and the video shows a photograph of a small camouflage folding knife.
All of the involved officers were put on administrative leave, as is state policy, while the Benton County Major Crimes Team and Albany police investigate the incident.
(c)2021 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)