Arlington Police Chief Al Jones released body camera footage Thursday from a September 17 officer-involved shooting that left a 56-year-old man dead after he lunged at officers with a large knife during a mental health call.
Jones identified the deceased as David Eversole, who had been making suicidal comments and had access to knives, according to details shared at a news conference, reported Fox 4 KDFW. Four officers responded to a 911 call placed by another person inside the home in the 1700 block of West Lovers Lane around 10:45 p.m.
“When officers entered the room, Mr. Eversole became very upset and pulled out a large knife. The officers gave him multiple verbal commands to drop the knife, but he did not comply,” Jones said, Fox 4 reported.
“In an attempt to de-escalate the situation, you can see the officer start backing out of the room. He lowered his weapon, but at that moment, Mr. Eversole came towards the officer still holding the knife. The officer then fired multiple shots at Mr. Eversole, striking him,” Jones added.
Officers performed first aid on Eversole until medics arrived. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. No officers were injured, according to Jones.
Man at Door Was Not a Peace Officer
Jones provided additional context about a man seen in the body camera footage greeting officers at the front door. Although the man mentioned working in law enforcement, he does not hold an active peace officer license with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, Jones said. The man can be heard yelling “less lethal” at officers in the video.
“I can tell you, we had a separate encounter with him in May of this year where he claimed to be working as a bounty hunter. I bring this up to say he is not a police officer, and we have no evidence that he received any form of law enforcement or use of force training,” Jones said.
Jones said the situation became a deadly force encounter once Eversole produced the knife.
Prior Calls to the Home
Police had responded to the residence four times before, though none of those calls involved Eversole, Jones said. Two were related to medical emergencies, one was a 911 hang-up, and the fourth was an emergency mental health detention involving another resident.
Investigations underway
All four officers who responded were placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Jones said two independent inquiries are underway: a criminal investigation to determine whether an offense occurred and an administrative review examining whether department policies were followed.
The officer who fired the fatal shots has been with the department for 15 years, according to Jones.
Jones said all officers receive crisis intervention training to help identify and de-escalate encounters with people in crisis.
“This is very difficult. These calls are very unpredictable, especially when someone introduces a weapon to it. You know, and our heart rates go up. And unfortunately, this had a negative outcome,” he said. “But as I said before, we want to have positive outcomes on every mental health call that we respond to.”
