Mesquite PD releases bodycam footage of officer who fatally shot 19-year-old inside car

Mesquite police released body-worn camera footage Thursday of the moments an officer fatally shot a 19-year-old man who police say refused to heed commands to stop moving his car.

The graphic bodycam footage is included in a video posted by the Mesquite Police Department on the City of Mesquite’s YouTube page. Warning to viewers: The video includes the officer firing the fatal shots.

About 3 a.m. Dec. 14, police said a stolen silver Hyundai sedan passed an officer on routine patrol near Cartwright and Edwards Church roads in the southeastern part of the city. The Hyundai was being followed by a Chrysler sedan.

Both cars then parked at gas pumps at a nearby 7-Eleven. Minutes later, police said a caller reported their Hyundai sedan had just been stolen from their residence near Clay Mathis Drive and Edwards Church Road.

Surveillance video from the gas station shows the driver of the Hyundai go inside the 7-Eleven with one of the Chrysler’s passengers.

While the two men were inside, footage shows the officer drive into the parking lot, get out of his patrol car, and walk up to the Hyundai with his flashlight in his left hand and gun raised in his right. Police said the car was empty.

The officer then walked over to the Chrysler as the two men left the convenience store and began walking toward the car. The officer repeatedly yelled at the suspects to get on the ground, and the footage shows one of them raise his hands in the air before they both ran through the parking lot, out of the frame.

The officer shared descriptions of the men to incoming officers before he ordered the driver of the Chrysler, identified as 19-year-old Payton Lawrence, to turn off the vehicle and stop moving it, police allege. Three people were with Lawrence in the Chrysler at the time.

“Do not move or I will f—ing kill you, do you understand me?” the officer barked at Lawrence.

The officer told Lawrence to stay at the pump and shut the car off while providing information to dispatch. As he was doing so, Lawrence placed the car in reverse and began to back out, away from the pump.

As the car moved, the officer banged the hood and yelled, “Shut the car off now.” He repeated the command at least four times.

Police said Lawrence stopped and pulled forward slightly before reversing again further away from the pump. The officer pointed his gun at him while yelling at him to stop.

As the car moved forward, the officer fired three shots into the front windshield with a 9 mm handgun, according to the bodycam footage. The car continued to roll forward while the officer reported, “Shots fired” into his radio.

The officer opened the front passenger door and pointed his firearm at Lawrence, telling him to not move. The officer then opened the back passenger seat door and yelled at the men in the backseat to not move. One of the men raised his hands in the air, the footage shows.

“Chill bro, chill our hands up, chill,” one passenger told the officer.

The car then rolled forward before traveling over a curb, coming to a halt in a grassy area, according to the footage. The officer then removed Lawrence from the vehicle and “performed life-saving measures,” police said. The department did not include any additional details about what medical treatment Lawrence received.

Two other people inside the Chrysler were questioned and released. The third, 19-year-old Kevon Moore of Dallas, was arrested on outstanding warrants. It was unclear, according to Mesquite jail records, what charges Moore was detained on.

Authorities were unable to find the two men who fled.

Four firearms were found inside the Chrysler, police said, including an AR-style pistol.

Citing the ongoing investigation, the department declined to release the officer’s name, but police said he has been with the department for 17 years.

After the department’s investigation is complete, it will be referred to the Dallas County district attorney’s office for review, police said. The office sent its own investigators to the scene as well to conduct an independent investigation.

According to police, its internal affairs unit will also conduct an investigation to determine whether the officer’s actions and use of deadly force followed department policy and procedures.