MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Body camera footage of a confrontation with West Virginia State Police in Berkeley County that left a Hagerstown, MD man dead has been released to the public.
The attorney for the family of Edmond Exline, who in February 2023 died after a struggle with West Virginia State Police on the side of I-81 near Martinsburg, posted the body camera footage of the incident from three different West Virginia state troopers online. The Exline family, which received a $1 million settlement from the West Virginia State Police earlier this month, has previously stated that he had schizophrenia.
The family’s attorney, John-Mark Atkinson, said the desire in releasing the video is to see a death like Exline’s avoided in the future.
“In consulting with Edmond’s only son, who is the administrator of the estate, we decided it would be best to release it at this point so people can be aware of what happened and raise awareness and hopefully prevent this kind of thing from happening again,” Atkinson said Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The West Virginia State Police said in a release to WCHS-TV in Charleston that the troopers involved were cleared of wrongdoing by a federal Department of Justice investigation. That release also stated that a grand jury declined to indict the troopers and they were cleared by both administrative and review board investigators.
Exline was confronted by a West Virginia state trooper on February 12, 2023 as he walked along the side of I-81 near Martinsburg’s North Queen Street exit. The footage released shows the trooper exiting his vehicle with what appears to be his gun drawn and directing Exline to stand in front the car and place his hands on his head.
Exline then reaches into his pocket before the officer directs him to pull his hands out and then switches to his taser. Exline then walks in front of the car, placing a bag on the hood and telling the officer, “I didn’t do nothing, sir,” and that he had just been dropped off.
At that point, Exline begins walking away from the vehicle along the highway with the trooper calling for backup and following him on foot, eventually pushing Exline into the road at which point he crossed multiple lanes and attempted to climb over a concrete barrier. As he attempts to restrain Exline, the officer deploys his taser multiple times until he is incapacitated on the ground, at one point saying, “Let me up. I need to breathe.”
The other two troopers arrive shortly after and the three struggle with Exline in an attempt to handcuff him. After Exline is restrained, several more law enforcement units arrive on the scene and eventually attempt to carry him away. As this happens, Exline’s face is visibly bloodied and he is unable to support himself.
West Virginia man dies in police custody, body cam footage released pic.twitter.com/iU1ynqMIOb
— Eyewitness News (@wchs8fox11) July 30, 2024
One of the officers on the scene calls for a medic and others begin conducting CPR, also administering Narcan to Exline. He was later transported to Berkeley Medical Center and pronounced dead.
Atkinson said one of the most concerning things about the video is Exline’s cries for help while being incapacitated by the troopers.
“You can hear on the video, and this is some of the hardest part to listen to for me, is Edmond speaking during that struggle and he says a couple times things like, ‘I didn’t do nothing’, ‘You’re hurting me’, ‘Let me up. I need to breathe,’ ‘They’re trying to kill me.’ He’s saying that over and over again while he’s lying prone and being struck and struck and tased and there’s just no need for that at all,” he said.
According to Atkinson, the family was unable to obtain the body camera footage until after a lawsuit had been filed against the West Virginia State Police, at which point it was turned over to Atkinson as evidence. He believes releasing the footage is important in fulfilling the public’s right to know what occurs in confrontations like the one that led to Exline’s death.
“West Virginia State Police holds itself out as the premier law enforcement agency in our state and I think our residents and citizens have a right to know kind of what happens sometimes and that this behavior is inappropriate, unlawful, and must be prevented in the future,” he said.