The moment an Albuquerque lieutenant realized he mistook an undercover cop for a suspect in a drug bust and shot him nine times, he shrieked, “I didn’t know it was you ... I thought you were a bad guy,” startling new video shows.
Lt. Greg Brachle got out of a pick-up truck, approached a black car with tinted windows and, when the person he thought was a suspect opened one of the rear doors, he repeatedly fired off his gun, the shocking lapel cam footage released by the City of Albuquerque shows.
The man turned out to be undercover detective Jacob Grant, 38, who wasn’t wearing body armor at the time of the January 2015 nearly fatal mix-up—he lost 80% of the blood in his body and suffered injuries to all of his major organs.
“I’m sorry!” Brachle frantically screams, before he yells out a string of expletives: "Oh s--t that was Jacob!" Holy s--t it's Jacob! F--- me!"
"Are you okay?" Brachle asked the wounded cop, to which he responds: "No."
Brachle retired after the Police Oversight Agency recommended that he be fired.
The video was released the day after the city of Albuquerque, N.M., shelled out $6.5 million to Grant in a settlement.
Brachle was involved in another shooting in 1998, when he shot a man who was leaving his house with his arms in the air after Brachle responded to reports of a dispute — the man survived and filed suit.
