Cops TV show crew member killed by friendly fire

By Michael Idato
Updated August 29 2014 - 9:13am, first published August 28 2014 - 10:55am
A still from a video released by the Omaha Police Department showing the armed robber shooting at police. Photo: Supplied
A still from a video released by the Omaha Police Department showing the armed robber shooting at police. Photo: Supplied
A crew member for the reality TV series Cops has been shot and killed during a shootout with an armed robber.
A crew member for the reality TV series Cops has been shot and killed during a shootout with an armed robber.

A crew member for the reality TV series Cops has been shot and killed during a shootout with an armed robber.

Authorities said the crew from the long-running reality TV series was filming a police unit in Omaha, Nebraska, when gunfire was exchanged with an armed robber outside a Wendy's restaurant.

Police said two people were hit in the crossfire, the suspect and the Cops sound recordist.  The crew member has been identified as Bryce Dion, a 38-year-old resident of the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica.

In an exchange on police radio aired on US television, a police office is heard to say: "We've got a Cops cameraman hit, [a] white male, he's not conscious, he's slightly breathing."

Another officer says: "We have one of the Cops guys, [he] has been hit by gunfire."

Initially, police confirmed the robbery suspect had been killed in the exchange of gunfire but made no comment on the condition of Dion.

Media reports in the US later confirmed Dion had died from his injuries.

In a tragic footnote to the incident, police said the armed robber, identified as Cortez Washington, 32, was only carrying an "air gun", a small low-impact sidearm which resembles a real gun.

Langley Productions, which produces Cops, said in a statement the company was "deeply saddened and shocked" by Dion's death.

"Our main concern is helping his family in any way we can," the company said.

"Bryce Dion was a long term member of the Cops team and a very talented and dedicated person.

"We mourn his passing. An investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating with local authorities."

The reality series, which was a mainstay of the Fox network for more than two decades, is now aired on the cable channel Spike. It launched in 1989.

The series places crews with police units in various jurisdictions across the US. This particular crew had been filming police work in Omaha, Nebraska, since early July.

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said 38-year-old Bryce Dion was shot once during a shootout between three officers and one suspect in a Wendy's.

"It is as if we lost one of our own," Chief Schmaderer said. "He was an incredible man."

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