Ohio officer lectures boys after fake gun scare: 'I could have killed you'

Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Officer lectures boys after fake gun scare
Officer lectures boys after fake gun scare

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio police officer's body camera recorded some intense moments while he confronted two boys after getting a call about them having a gun.

It could have been a deadly encounter, one that officers can find themselves in at any moment.

The boys, ages 11 and 13, appeared to have a real gun when Officer Casuccio arrived on the scene, but it turned out to be a BB gun.

Officer Peter Casuccio/ Columbus Police Department: "Do you know why you should be (bleeped out) scared? This is getting kids killed all over the country. That thing looks real bro."

Boy: "I'm so sorry."

Officer Casuccio: "You should be sorry and you should be scared."

The officer says that he was out patrolling on Saturday when a call came in about some boys waving a gun around. When he found them, he drew his service weapon.

He says all he had was an instant to react.

Casuccio said, "It's really what it is. It's a millisecond. And I saw the gun leaving his hand out the corner of my eye. Then I saw it burst into a million pieces on the sidewalk. That's when I realized it was a BB gun."

With body camera rolling, Officer Casuccio keeps talking.

"I could have killed you," he said to the boys. "I want you think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could be gone."

Casuccio says that he has talked with the boys and their parents, hoping to teach them a life lesson.