US police officer praised for showing 'restraint' by not killing murder suspect asking to be shot

Body cam footage showed a suspect asking officer Jesse Kidder to shoot him

Body cam footage showed a suspect asking officer Jesse Kidder to shoot him (YouTube)

A US police officer has been praised for not killing a murder suspect who ran towards him shouting “shoot me” as anger continues over a series of deaths.

Jesse Kidder, an officer in New Richmond, Ohio, was chasing 27-year-old Michael Wilcox on Thursday as police mounted a manhunt after finding his girlfriend’s body.

Footage from a body camera shows the moment Wilcox stopped his car and got out, approaching Officer Kidder.

He can be seen keeping his gun trained on the suspect shouting “get your hands up” as he runs towards him.

“Stop, stop right there. I don’t want to shoot you,” Officer Kidder tells him as he runs backwards while Wilcox repeatedly shouts “shoot me”.

“No man…I’m not going to do it,” Officer Kidder can be heard saying.

As he continues backing away, the police officer falls over and Wilcox continues approaching until sirens hailing the arrival of back-up are heard in the background.

The suspect eventually complies and lies down on the ground.

Officer Kidder told WLWT-TV he wanted to be “absolutely sure” Wilcox was a threat before killing him.

He started working for New Richmond Police a year ago after completing two tours in Iraq as a US marine, when he was decorated with the Purple Heart for wounded soldiers.

Randy Harvey, the chief of the force, claimed Wilson was attempting “suicide by cop” and that Officer Kidder would have been justified in shooting him.

On 4/16/2015 the Brown County sheriff's Office put out a BOLO for suspect in the murder of a female that occurred in...

Posted by New Richmond Police Department on Friday, 17 April 2015

“I am proud to say he used great restraint at the risk of his own safety,” he added.

“For him to make the judgment call that he did shows great restraint and maturity.

"This video footage, it eliminated all doubt that this officer would have been justified if in fact it came to a shooting."

Officer Kidder’s body camera was given to him by a relative following last year’s unrest in Ferguson and Mr Harvey hopes to purchase them for the rest of his force.

Wilcox has since admitted killing his girlfriend, 25-year-old Courtney Fowler, who was found shot dead at their home in Felicity, Ohio.

He also is a suspect in the death of his best friend, Zach Gilkison, who was killed in Kentucky on the same day.

The incident comes amid continuing debate in the US over police tactics following the killing of several unarmed suspects.

Earlier this month, an unarmed black man was shot dead by a white police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, who has since been charged with murder and fired.

A 73-year-old volunteer officer, who is white, faces manslaughter charges in Oklahoma after being accused of shooting a black man dead who was being held down by other officers.

He claimed he he shot the suspect after mistakenly grabbing his handgun instead of his Taser.

The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last year caused months of angry protests and sparked fierce criticism of the “militarisation” of US officers, as well as alleged institutional racism.

Two officers who shot Mr Brown and another unarmed black man in the suburb were not charged with any offence after separate grand juries controversially declined to indict them.

Additional reporting by AP