Following a wrongful death lawsuit, video has been released of a Waterloo man shot and killed by police

WATERLOO, Iowa (KCRG) - An attorney representing the family of a man shot by Waterloo Police has released body camera footage showing what happened that night.

Police say Brent Boggess was shot and killed by Waterloo Police Officer Ken Schaaf in November of last year after he led police on a chase and eventually rammed his vehicle into a police cruiser. The Blackhawk County Attorney’s Office justified the officer’s use of force.

County Attorney Brian Williams’s statement said “Boggess’ repeated attempts to deliberately ram law enforcement with his truck establish that Boggess had a reckless and wanton disregard for the lives and safety of himself and others.” “The evidence demonstrates that Boggess, quite, unfortunately, could not and would not be reasoned with.”

Neven Mulholland, an attorney at Johnson Law Firm in Fort Dodge, says the family wants to set the record straight and says this graphic video shows what actually happened when police shot and killed Boggess.

Mulholland’s office released dash camera video and body camera footage from a number of different officers that responded on November 16th, 2021.

Waterloo Police say Boggess led Waterloo Police on a 9-minute chase in a residential area before blocking him in an alleyway near his home. Officer Joe Zubak can be seen engaging with Boggess. Boggess tells Zuback he has “bad mental illness.” Zubak can then be seen telling officers to turn off the sirens and asking Boggess to leave his vehicle.

“All of the (officers) were effectively de-escalating the situation,” said Mulholland. “There was nowhere Boggess could go with his vehicle.”

Mulholland said it wasn’t until more officers arrived on the scene that the situation escalated.

“You will see the police car coming toward him, and keeps coming at him,” he said. “The police car then drives over the stop sticks after Boggess reverses and stops his car. Boggess then panics and drives forward.”

The body camera footage also shows Officer Schaaf watching as Boggess’ vehicle strikes a police cruiser. The video then shows Officer Schaaf firing his weapon.

“As he’s approaching, he pulls his gun, and he fires five shots at Brent Boggess after his vehicle is disabled; he’s just sitting in his car,” said Mulholland.

Boggess was struck and later died. Mulholland said they weren’t defending Boggess’ actions that night, but said it didn’t need to end with Boggess losing his life, and his family losing a father, son, and husband.

“He made a poor decision from the start,” he said. “We think he was having some type of mental health episode, but those poor decisions certainly didn’t rise to the level of the state using deadly force and shooting and killing him.”

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