Taylor Burrows was crossing Edmond Road without a crosswalk just after 11 p.m. on June 19 when five Edmond Police Department officers descended on him for jaywalking. What happened next would eventually surface questions about missing body-camera footage and a homeless count that appears wildly disconnected from the number of unhoused people the department has actually arrested.
Burrows, a 36-year-old military veteran, was first spotted by Officer Jerry Quintanilla, who witnessed him cross Edmond Road near neighborhoods east of Santa Fe Avenue as a car swerved to avoid him, according to NonDoc Media. Officer Lucas DeRose told Burrows he was being detained and needed to identify himself, then warned him he could identify himself or go to jail, per the outlet’s account. Burrows gave only his first name, Taylor, and backed toward a fence with his hands up.
A Body Camera That Missed the Arrest
Burrows asked DeRose three separate times to confirm his body camera was recording, and DeRose assured him each time that it was. But DeRose’s footage ultimately ran just 51 seconds, including roughly 30 seconds of pre-roll, and never showed Burrows at all, the outlet’s reporting states. Quintanilla’s camera captured the encounter, though its audio was muted for about one minute while Quintanilla and DeRose conferred.
Edmond police public information officer Emily Ward said DeRose’s camera had been unintentionally activated inside his patrol vehicle, and that he appeared to believe he was turning it on only after arriving at the scene, the same report notes. Department policy allows officers to mute their cameras while conferring during an investigation or discussing private matters or tactics, but requires them to reactivate the audio once that conversation ends…