Northampton County First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck released the video to demonstrate exactly that point.
He released it only after consulting with the family of Corporal
Seth Kelly , who nearly died in the shootout. He also spoke with trooper Ryan Seiple and his family.
"It was only with their permission and encouragement that ultimately we decided to (release the video)," Houck said Thursday.
The video shot from the dashboard of a state police cruiser shows Seiple trying to arrest Clary for driving under the influence. Clary breaks away and the troopers spend about a minute trying to subdue him until Clary dashes for his car and pulls out a gun.
Kelly was shot four times during the exchange of gunfire Nov 7, 2017, on the side of Route 33 in Plainfield Township.
He arrived at a local hospital
clinically dead . He spent 12 days in a medically-induced coma and 25 days in the hospital. He
doesn't rememberthe shootout.
Houck showed jurors the 45-minute video of the traffic stop, the struggle and its aftermath. He released the entire video to
lehighvalleylive.com. We cut out the approximately two-minute segment from where Clary initially resists until he flees in his car.
The video is violent and jarring. Houck believes he could have suppressed its release. But he and the troopers believe it's important that the public should view the video to see just how dangerous police work can be and to see the restraint employed by the troopers before they were forced to open fire.
"We think the community should see it," Houck said.
Clary, 22, of Effort, Pa., was
convicted June 29 of multiple felonies, including attempting to kill Seiple and Kelly. His attorney argued at trial he was scared and shot at the troopers because he feared for his life.