Tennessee Sheriff After Shooting: 'I Said Take Him Out'

SPARTA, TN -- The sheriff of White County, Tenn., ordered a fleeing suspect shot rather than risk damage to his patrol cars, according to a federal lawsuit and body camera footage recorded in the aftermath of the fatal encounter on a rural Tennessee highway in April 2017.

On April 13, 2017, Michael Dial was stopped in Smithville, a town 70 miles east of Nashville, and police there discovered his driver's license was suspended. According to the case filed in U.S. District Court, Smithville officers told Dial he would not be arrested, but they would not let him drive away from the stop. Nevertheless, Dial fled in his 1976 Chevrolet pick-up. Dial led Smithville officers on a low-speed chase — speeds never exceeded 50 miles per hour, according to the suit — to the White County line, where sheriff's deputies and Sparta police picked up the pursuit.

Dashcam video filed with the complaint and obtained by NewsChannel 5 shows pursuing officer attempting the so-called PIT maneuver, commonly used by law enforcement to bring car chases to a relatively safe conclusion.

As they attempted the move, a dispatcher radioed out that White County Sheriff Oddie Shoupe authorized deadly force.

"Per 59 (the sheriff) use deadly force if necessary. Take the subject out by any means necessary," the dispatcher said.

Ignoring the order, one deputy continued to attempt the PIT maneuver and, in fact, Dial's car ran off the shoulder of Highway 111. Then, Reserve Deputy Adam West, who was off-duty but had nevertheless joined the pursuit, fired his gun three times at Dial and Sparta Police officer Charlie Sims fired another four or five shots. Dial, who was unarmed, was hit by at least one bullet from each man and later died at the hospital.

Shoupe arrived on the scene soon thereafter where, unbeknownst to him, a body camera in the back of a patrol car recorded his comments indicating that he called for deadly force because he did not want his cars damaged.

"I told him, I said 'take him out.' Damn, I don’t give a s---. He said 'we’ll ram him,' I said 'don’t ram him, shoot him.' F--- that s---. Ain’t gonna tear my cars up. But I got two cars tore up again," he can be heard saying on the video. "If they don't think I'll give the damn order to kill that m----------- they're full of s---. Take him out. I'm here on the damn wrong end of the county."

Later, Shoupe can be heard saying "I love this s---" and "I thrive on it."

Because of pending litigation, Shoupe declined to comment to Patch.

As is the case with most officer-involved shootings in Tennessee, the TBI investigated and turned its findings over to the District Attorney General for the final determination.

"TBI Agents do not determine whether a shooting is justified. Our Agents serve as fact-finders in the investigations in which we are requested. We provide our findings to the respective DA as the investigation progresses. At the conclusion of our investigation, the DA makes any charging determinations," TBI Public Information Officer Susan Niland told Patch.

DA Bryant Dunaway did not seek indictments against the officers or the sheriff and told WTVF he had not heard the sheriff's comments when he made that ruling, but that he is standing by his initial decision the shooting was justified.

"Dial's truck drove down an embankment on the right side of Highway 111 and then began to drive back up to the grass hill toward the highway and toward the Sparta Police Officer's vehicle. It is clear from the circumstances that Mr. Dial was a dangerous and unstable subject," Dunaway wrote in a statement.

The lawsuit claims excessive force, deliberate indifference, failure to train and supervise and seeks an undisclosed amount of damages.

Image via White County Sheriff's Office