LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. — The District Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday that officers who were being investigated after shooting a suspect in February had been cleared by a Loudon County jury.
They said that on April 12, the jury heard from a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent about the shooting. The presentation included pictures from the incident, two separate body camera videos and testimony from the agent that included a chance for jury members to ask questions.
The incident started when the Loudon County dispatchers received a call from a private process server working with the Department of Children's Services. They said the person was trying to serve papers to Joshua Wilson at a Malibu boat factory off Kimberly Way.
They said Wilson assaulted the process server, and so police officers went to the factory.
They said they could not find him, but dispatchers received calls later that day that Wilson had returned to the building. They said he was "acting erratic" and told police that he had a long-blade hunting knife in a backpack inside of the locker area.
Police said they found him at his workstation inside the factory with a knife in his hand. They said they ordered him to drop the knife and put up his hands, but Wilson refused. Officers then fired tasers at him, according to a release, which had no effect.
Wilson then ran back through the factory with the knife in his hand, and an officer said he tried to hit him in the hand, forcing him to drop the knife. However, police said he continued holding onto the knife.
He left the factory and started shouting for police to shoot him, according to a release. Authorities said police were trying to stop Wilson, to try "to coax him into just stopping 'for three minutes' to talk with them."
Wilson was "bumped" by a patrol car, according to the release, and was briefly knocked down. However, police said he got back up and continue running, eventually leading police into a cornfield across the street from the factory.
Police then tried to shoot Wilson with a "less than lethal" bean bag shotgun but said he continued into the field. Police said they also tried to release a K-9 unit on him but said it only bit him on the leg because of the noise and confusion of the incident, and it was ineffective.
Eventually, authorities said Sgt. Newman told Officer Ridings to shoot Wilson in the hip. He shot at Wilson's leg and missed the first shot, hitting him in the upper shin with the second shot, according to authorities.
He fell to the ground and police said he was convinced to throw the knife away. They then gave him medical attention and pulled him out of the field in a pickup truck to a nearby ambulance on the road.
Wilson was charged with several counts of assault and reckless endangerment.