St. Louis police officers terminated for allegedly refusing to help dying man

Two St. Louis, Missouri police officers have been terminated after being accused of leaving a shooting victim to die because their shift was about to end.

In September 2023, when then Officers Austin Fraser and Ty Warren searched a park after responding to a call, they came across severely wounded Urayoan Rodriguez-Rivera, who had called 911 to say he was going to kill himself.

Body camera footage captures incident

Footage obtained by KMOV First Alert 4, appears to show Fraser and Warren come upon the body suprised to discover Rodriguez-Rivera on the ground and still breathing.

“Damn, he’s right there,” one officer can be heard saying on footage recorded by Warren’s body-worn camera.

One St Louis police officer refused to help the victim, then the other followed suit

The officers acknowledge Rodriguez-Rivera isn’t deceased. But when Warren suggests they bring the victim somewhere for help, his partner immediately refused.

“We ain’t taking s–t,” Fraser said. “I get off in 30 minutes.”

Fraser then suggests to Warren that they “cruise around and come back,” before they walk away joking and wait for other officers to respond.

“They’re gonna find this (expletive), and we’re gonna be like, ‘Oh, (expletive), you found him,’” Fraser said to Warren.

They leave the scene

The duo returned about a few minutes later pretending to have just arrived on the scene for the first time. A third officer calls for emergency services while Fraser and Warren stick by their plan to act naive.

Fraser and Warren then left the scene a second time, leaving other officers to handle the situation.

“You can’t just leave,” another officer is heard telling the pair as they nonchalantly continue to do just that.

The 29-year-old victim was then rushed to a St. Louis-area hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries from the gunshot to his head 40 minutes after calling 911.

St Louis Missouri police officers had “reckless disregard”

The state of Missouri accused the former cops of “reckless disregard” for their mishandling of that September 2023 incident, according to First Alert 4’s report. The Missouri news outlet obtained the footage after filing an OPRA records request.

Rodriguez-Rivera’s death was reportedly ruled a death by suicide, but no gun was found at the scene.

Fraser and Warren have been terminated from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police, reports New York Daily News.

“The two individuals are no longer employed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department,” spokesperson Mitch McCoy said in a written statement. “While we are unable to comment on specific personnel matters, SLMPD holds its officers to the highest of standards. Appropriate disciplinary action will be taken if an officer is found to have violated policies.”

An investigation into the horrific incident continues.