Body cam footage of AC police shooting released

Jim Walsh | Cherry Hill Courier-Post

ATLANTIC CITY - Authorities released two videos Tuesday that show a fatal police shooting in the wake of a traffic accident here.

"Put it down! Put it down!," an officer shouts in one video, backing away and reaching for his gun as a man slowly approaches him at the scene of a June 22 hit-and-run accident in Atlantic City.

At about the same time, at least seven shots ring out and the alleged knife-wielding assailant, 32-year-old Timothy Deal, falls mortally wounded,

Authorities allege Deal stabbed an Atlantic City policeman in "an unprovoked attack."

Deal was not involved in the hit-and-run accident that drew police to the 600 block of North Kentucky Avenue, the prosecutor’s office said.

The second body-cam video shows police calmly talking to a man and a young girl, standing near a white van in the street, when Deal calmly walks toward an officer.

"Yo man," the officer says, raising his service weapon as Deal lifts his right hand and rushes forward.

"Shots fired! Shots fired!" a voice calls out as Deal reels backwards and falls behind the van.

Deal, an Atlantic City resident, was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

The officer, whose name has not been made public, was released from the same hospital after treatment.

County Prosecutor Damon Tyner called Deal’s death “tragic,” but said, “We must not lose sight of the fact that a sworn police officer … was attacked for no apparent reason.”

"The officer defended himself and protected the public from untold harm,” Tyner asserted.

An ongoing investigation will include the submission of evidence to the New Jersey State Police ballistics lab, the prosecutor’s office said.

Atlantic City’s Police Department does not have a role in the investigation, it added.