Lake County sheriff releases video of fatal Clearlake Oaks shooting

The Lake County deputy who fatally shot a man late last month told investigators the man had tried to stab him with a knife and unholster his gun during a fight between the two, leading the deputy to fire his weapon, Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said.

But the body camera Deputy Wesley Besgrove wore the night of the deadly Dec. 28 altercation with a man later identified as Craig Ellis See fell off seconds into Besgrove’s pursuit of See, obscuring all but the sounds of the pair’s violent altercation.

The sound of the struggle and subsequent shooting was recorded on Besgrove’s body-worn camera. That footage, along with a shortened version featuring Sheriff Brian Martin’s analysis, was released Friday.

The 29-minute video begins with Besgrove’s attempt to stop See about 9:50 p.m. outside the Clearlake Oaks Dollar General store parking lot on Highway 20. Most of the video shows only a black screen after the camera falls to the ground seconds into a chase between the two men.

See was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was unclear why the camera, which was affixed to Besgrove’s uniform, fell during the chase, Martin said. The camera continued to record audio until the end of the video.

“You can glean some information,” Martin said. “You actually get to look and see the evidence that we have. I think that’s important.”

Other details about the physical struggle between the two men that led up the shooting, including Besgrove being bitten and his attempted use of pepper spray, were pieced together from statements Besgrove made to investigators and medical examinations of his injuries, Martin said.

Besgrove, who worked at the Sheriff Office’s corrections unit for three years before moving to patrol a little more than a year ago, was allowed to see the body-camera footage before giving his statement to investigators, Martin said.

“Our goal is to find out what happened,”?Martin?said. “We’re not trying to play a ‘gotcha’ game with anybody.”

The video, which the agency released in compliance with a state law that requires agencies to share camera footage when officers fire their weapons, kill or seriously injure someone, provided the first public viewing of Besgrove’s nighttime stop of See.

Kevin See, one of See’s eight siblings, said the body-camera footage released Friday provided a clearer picture of what happened during the shooting amid exaggerated rumors he had heard about the altercation. He added that his brother - who was 34, living in a storage unit and was looking to return to his relatives in Illinois - looked scared during his encounter with Besgrove.

“At what point do you think that (the deputy) thought he had subdued Craig?” Kevin See said after watching the body camera footage. “From what my mom says, (my brother) had warrants and was looking to stay out of jail. That’s no excuse, I’ll be the first to tell you that. But to shoot him like that? There’s no excuse.”

The video starts as Besgrove follows See, who is on a bicycle, into the parking lot of the Dollar General store.

Besgrove parks his vehicle, approaches See and explains that he was riding without all the required reflective equipment on his bicycle. Besgrove then asks See for his license, to which See replies that he doesn’t have one and instead provides Besgrove with a name and a birthday that’s not his, Martin said.

Besgrove notices what looks like a knife hidden in See’s waistband prompting him to order See to turn around and place his hands on his head, Martin said. See initially appears to comply, but then runs away. Besgrove chases after him and yells at See to stop as they run into a creek bed. Besgrove then felt a pop in his knee, which was later determined to be a fractured leg, Martin said.

The camera’s view goes black as the camera falls from Besgrove’s uniform, though it continues to record the sound of what Martin described as a violent fight between the two men.

Besgrove was bitten by See several times and the deputy attempted to use his pepper spray on See, though the chemical ended up in the deputy’s eyes instead.

The two then went down a small hill, and See, who ended up on top of Besgrove, head-butted Besgrove twice. See then attempted to stab Besgrove with a knife and Besgrove fights him for the weapon, telling him to drop it. At some point, Besgrove felt pressure on his service weapon, Martin said in the edited debriefing video.

“See’s hand was pulling on the grip of Deputy Besgrove’s service weapon trying to upholster it,” Martin said in the video. “Fearing for his life, Deputy Besgrove removed his service weapon and shot See several times in close proximity.”

Three shots are heard in the video, followed by screams and the sound of two more rounds being fired soon after. Besgrove then told dispatchers that shots had been fired and See was hit.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal investigation to determine whether Besgrove, who was still recovering from his injuries as of Sunday though was no longer at the hospital, followed department policy during the shooting.

Martin did not know how long it would take his deputies to complete the internal investigation, though he said the process could take several weeks or months.

The Sheriff’s Office had not located any other witnesses and either his agency or the Lake County District Attorney’s Office, which will conduct a criminal investigation into the shooting, were in the process of trying to get video from the Dollar General near where the shooting occurred, Martin said.

Besgrove had investigated See two weeks prior to the shooting for an unrelated incident in which the victim, who was shot in the foot, identified See as the suspect, Martin said.

Besgrove was not able to locate See in connection to that case, however, and it did not appear that Besgrove realized he had found the man he’d been looking for during the Dec. 28 stop, Martin said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com.