I-95 Shooting Video Unveiled; Chief Defends Use Of Deadly Force

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Police have shown highway surveillance footage of the moments leading up to a deadly shooting involving officers on a busy stretch of Interstate 95 in Rhode Island.

The Department of Transportation video shows a driver racing in a white truck down a highway Thursday morning as he tried to elude police cars then repeatedly ramming a woman's car as officers jumped out of the way.

Providence police identified the dead man as 32-year-old Joseph Santos and the inured passenger as Christine Demers.

Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare says there was an imminent threat to officers' safety. No weapon was found in the vehicle.

Officials say Providence and state police fired 40 rounds total. Authorities say five Providence officers fired their weapons; they didn't say how many state police officers fired.

The police chief in Providence defended his officers' use of force in a morning shooting on Interstate 95 in Rhode Island. WFXT-TV reports Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements says several officers on scene received enough of a threat to use that type of force.

Clements says the truck driver was behaving so aggressively, he was causing a huge public safety risk and several people were in danger.