The Juneau Police Department announced Friday that it will release the body camera footage from a deadly July shooting next week at the same time that the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions will deliver its findings from the investigation into the incident.
The announcement comes more than 50 days after law enforcement officers shot and killed Steven Kissack, a man who lived on the streets downtown. Police say he had lunged at officers while holding a knife and made violent threats during a confrontation on July 15.
The shooting happened on a busy downtown street in the middle of the day, with dozens of witnesses. Cell phone footage taken by bystanders at the time showed various angles of the incident from a distance.
According to the Alaska State Troopers and JPD, only two of the officers involved in the confrontation fired their guns during the incident – Alaska Wildlife Trooper Sergeant Branden Forst and Juneau Sergeant Chris Gifford. Gifford was also involved in a non-fatal police shooting in 2016.
All of the officers involved were placed on administrative leave after the shooting before returning to active duty.
JPD hadn’t previously given a date when they would make the body camera footage public. Then, on Friday, JPD said that it would release the footage later that day. In an 11:57 a.m. email to local media, JPD Public Safety Manager Erann Kalwara wrote that the department would release the footage along with a press release “late this afternoon or early evening.”
Kalwara emailed again at 2:36 p.m., saying the department had decided to postpone the release to coincide with the state Office of Special Prosecutions report on the shooting.
JPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
City Attorney Emily Wright said the city had been communicating with the Alaska Department of Law about its plan for the footage. The department informed the city on Friday that it planned to release the report on Tuesday.
“The decision was made to wait and release the video at the same time as the report from the Office of Special Prosecutions. That way the most amount of information can come out all at once,” Wright said.
Wright did not know whether there would be a press conference on Tuesday, but said Steven Kissack’s family will be given the opportunity to watch the footage before it is released publicly. She said JPD Chief Derek Bos spoke with the family on Friday.
Tuesday will mark 57 days between Kissack’s death and the footage being released. The Anchorage Police Department, which has had a string of officer-involved shootings, recently announced a new policy that body camera footage of police shootings must be released within 45 days.
Wright said the timeline for releasing body camera footage from past Juneau police shootings has been varied. In some cases it took as long as six months.
“CBJ, we don’t have an official policy, and that may be something we need to look at,” she said.
The report from the Office of Special Prosecutions will include analysis of the Alaska Bureau of Investigations’ findings about the incident and if use of force was justified.
