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Cops crew member killed during US shootout

An audio technician on US series Cops has been accidentally shot and killed by police.

2014-08-28_1537An audio technician on US observational series Cops has been accidentally shot and killed by police while the show was filming a robbery in Omaha.

LA Times reports that local officers opened fire on a suspect but accidentally killed Bryce Dion, 38, who had worked on the show for seven years. He had been working with Omaha officers since June, and was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time, but was struck beneath his armpit in an unprotected area.

It’s “as if we lost one of our own,” Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said. “He was an incredible man.”

Dion’s death is likely to raise new questions about crew safety on the ‘reality’ genre, and the newspaper notes it could contribute to scrutiny over police use of force after a string of high-profile shootings across the U.S. resulted in the deaths of several unarmed people.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has raised concerns about unsafe working conditions on reality shows, many of which are not covered by union contracts.

An official with IATSE said the union did not have a contract to cover crew members on Cops and declined to comment.

Police said the suspect, Cortez Washington, 32, fired at officers with an airsoft pistol, which looks and sounds like a real handgun but does not fire lethal rounds.

Cops began in 1989 on FOX until it was cancelled in 2013, but it was later picked up by cable network Spike and airs in Australia on ONE.

3 Responses

  1. @Hayley7 I watched the press conference held by the police chief (its available online). It went into a fair bit of detail. It appears, unknown to the officers, the audio technician got caught in a room of the building. The suspect was heading toward that area. The footage taken by the camera operator is being used in the investigation. As per laws and policies it is being investigated by a Homicide and Internal Affairs, the District Attorney and Langley productions. A Grand jury will also investigate.

    The police chief is also being praised within the emergency services community for the way he’s been providing information in a timely and effective manner. Thoughts are with the crew and family.

  2. After 25 years, should we be surprised that this has never happened before? The show is pretty confrontational.
    I suppose it just seems weird to me that he was anywhere near the line of fire of the cops. You think it would be second nature for them to stay behind the officers, and if there was any shots it would come from the criminals side. I suppose we don’t know the specific situation that went down here though, there could have been confusion, but I certainly hope it’s being investigated.

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