Bodycam video shows man fatally shot by Buffalo police sped off while officer clung to car

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Buffalo Police Department released bodycam footage Thursday of the fatal shooting of a man by an officer early Wednesday morning on Kensington Avenue.

You can view a condensed version of the bodycam footage below, courtesy of Buffalo police.

“I believe that is a justified use of force that occurred the other night," said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia in a press conference Thursday. "When you take into account the fact that the officer found himself in a grave risk of serious physical injury or death, the use of that level of force is justified by law and I do believe that that is a justified use of force in this case.”

Officer Ronald Ammerman shot and killed 25-year-old Daevon Roberts after Roberts was pulled over, initially for excessive speed and tinted windows. There was also a 6-year-old in the passenger seat of the car with no seatbelt on.

In the video, Roberts was asked for identification. When he told officers he didn't have one on him, he showed a photo of a Georgia license on his phone, but the officer ran a search and found that the license in the photo was not valid. Roberts said the car he was driving belonged to his sister and that he was pulled over for window tint "every day."

The video appears to show the officer opening the door to the vehicle before Roberts took off with the officer's arm on top of the car and one leg in the doorframe. The vehicle accelerated and Officer Ammerman can be heard pleading with Roberts to stop, saying, "You're gonna kill me, bro." The speedometer in the video appears to indicate that the car was traveling over 60 mph and then slowed down, where it appears Roberts kicked at Ammerman, who fired several rounds and hit Roberts, as both fell out of the car. The bodycam footage shows the car driving through at least three blocks in a span of about 20 seconds before stopping.

Ammerman then ran to the car and took out the 6-year-old, who was uninjured. Roberts said in the video that the child was his cousin, later saying he was his nephew.

Roberts was transported to ECMC, where he was pronounced dead. A search warrant was conducted on the vehicle, which turned up a gun loaded with seven rounds located under the driver's seat.

"These situations, they don't evolve in a classroom, they don't evolve in a training facility." Gramaglia said. "This is real life, there's not a lot of control the way some of these situations go down. We can train for various situations but when it happens in real life, when there are actual situations, they always happen differently than what they do in a training facility."

WIVB News 4 sources confirmed Wednesday that Roberts is the half-brother of Jaylen Griffin, the 12-year-old boy whose body was found at a South Buffalo home in April after he went missing in August 2020. Roberts mentioned during the stop that Griffin was his brother.

Later in April, Roberts was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal mischief connected to an alleged shots fired incident at a memorial for Griffin at Central Terminal. He was held without bail until the charges were changed to first-degree attempted assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon when he was indicted in June. He was released under supervision at that time.

"It's a very sad situation all the way around. This family has been through a lot over the past several years," Gramaglia said.

Ammerman, who has been with the department for seven and a half years, and the other officer on scene, Officer Jonathan Crawford, have both been placed on administrative leave, in line with department policy.

"They're gonna need time to process this," Gramaglia said. "You can't just come back to work the day after being involved in a situation like that."

Buffalo homicide detectives and the Internal Affairs Division are currently conducting separate investigations, which is departmental procedure. In addition, the New York State Attorney General’s office is the lead prosecuting agency in the case.

This is the second fatal officer-involved shooting in Buffalo this year. In February, officers shot and killed a man on Reed Street after he was believed to have called 911 on himself.

You can view Thursday's full press conference in the media player below.