Police: Wounded officer’s body camera struck by bullet

Baltimore police say they can’t retrieve footage from the body camera worn by an officer wounded during a fatal shootout, because the camera was struck by a bullet.

Citing a Thursday statement from police spokesman T.J. Smith, The Baltimore Sun reports that the damage to Phillip Lippe’s body camera Sunday was so severe that the data couldn’t be saved. Lippe and partner Steven Foster exchanged gunfire with 29-year-old Nathaniel Sassafras, who was fatally wounded.

Smith said the camera worn by Foster did capture the incident, but police haven’t determined when and how they will release that footage.

Police haven’t said what led to the shooting. Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said Lippe and Foster were part of a “crime suppression initiative,” but Sassafras wasn’t a specific target.

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Information from: The Baltimore Sun, http://www.baltimoresun.com