Here, says Baltimore police Officer Charles M. Smothers II, is what the videotape of the death of James Quarles does not show you: That after about 10 minutes of refusing to drop an 8-inch knife outside Lexington Market last Saturday, Quarles suddenly gripped the weapon so tightly that the veins in his arms stood out. He gritted his teeth. He moved his left foot forward, and Smothers, fearing for his safety, fired one deadly shot to Quarles' right shoulder.
That a crowd of onlookers and a line of parked squad cars made it impossible for the officers to back away. That pepper spray, in the experience of Smothers' four years on the force, makes suspects more belligerent. That Quarles, 22, might have come slashing at him or at the crowd under a haze of gas. That police officers shooting at armed suspects are not taught to aim at the hands or the feet, but to stop an oncoming threat.
In an hourlong interview yesterday at the downtown office of his lawyer, Henry L. Belsky, Smothers, his wife and mother at his side, gave his account of a shooting that has raised questions in the police department and outrage in the community.
A week and a number of viewings of the videotape later, Smothers, 29, is still convinced he did what he had to do.
"I know it had to be done. I feel sorry for his family. I have lost loved ones too, and I know how it feels," the officer said yesterday. "I never meant for what happened to happen."
Smothers' first public account of the shooting yesterday came after a week of protests, questions from police department officials and shocked members of the public who watched the shooting on WBAL-TV, which purchased the videotape from the bystander who filmed it. The Baltimore state's attorney's office has been reviewing the tape and witness statements -- including one from Smothers -- to determine whether to present the case to a grand jury for indictment.
Shortly after the officer spoke yesterday, several dozen friends and relatives attended a viewing of Quarles' body in a plain gray coffin at an East Baltimore funeral home. Absent were any representatives of city officialdom, a fact that upset the family, whose members continue to puzzle over why Quarles did not drop the knife. Quarles' funeral is scheduled for today.
On the videotape, Quarles is seen from the back and partially obscured by a stone trash receptacle.
He does not appear to be moving forward just before he is shot.
