Two days after an unarmed man was shot and killed outside his own home by two Charlotte County deputies, the sheriff's office released 20 minutes of bodycam video of the incident. The linked video contains graphic language and imagery.
According to Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, Elroy Clarke, 42, was shot and killed while deputies were attempting to arrest Clarke on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
The incident happened on Wednesday, October 23, on Sandy Pine Dr. near Punta Gorda.
At 12:15 p.m., deputies responded to a disturbance between two men, Troy Johnson and Clarke.
Clarke called to report that Johnson, his tenant, was acting erratically and wanted him off his property.
During the course of the interaction, deputies identified Clarke as having an active warrant for failing to appear in court on a trespassing charge from an incident on June 4.
Deputies attempted to arrest Clarke. However, Clarke said he didn't know who Elroy Clarke was and claimed his name was "Ben Day."
Deputies asked Clarke to put his hands behind his back, but he refused.
Bodycam video shows that Clarke was repeatedly warned that he would be tased with a stun gun if he did not comply. After being tased multiple times, Clarke still refused and was immediately pepper sprayed.
He remained standing, repeating that he was unaware of why he would be under arrest, video shows.
After further discussion between deputies and Clarke, one of the officers retrieved a less-lethal bean bag shotgun from the patrol car.
Clarke was hit multiple times and remained standing.
At this point, the video shows Clarke lunging toward a deputy who was holding a gun.
In the text of the video released by the sheriff's office, it said, "After Clarke was struck with the final bean bag round, he charged at and made contact with Deputy #3. Deputy #3 was holding his service weapon. Deputy #3 and Deputy #1 discharged their service weapons, striking Clarke."
CCSO said CPR was performed on Clarke until medics arrived. Clarke was pronounced deceased at the scene.
In a news conference on Wednesday, Sheriff Prummell promised to provide this video as soon as possible so the community would be able to see what happened during the incident.
According to Prummell, the deputies are on administrative leave as per protocol.
Johnson ended up being arrested for failing to register as a convicted felon.
Prummell said CCSO is working with the State Attorney's Office as the investigation continues.