Harrowing bodycam footage captured US Marshals plunging several feet to the ground after the wooden deck they were standing on collapsed at the Missouri home of a convicted sex offender.
The clip obtained by NBC News showed the federal task force of four deputy US Marshals and five
Randolph County sheriff’s deputies swarming the second-floor deck of Jacob Alexander Munoz’s home on July 21.
The wooden deck suddenly detached from the home and collapsed, sending the heavily armed task force toppling to the ground and trapping them in a pile of beams, the dramatic footage showed.
Fellow law enforcement members then rushed into the rubble to start helping the deputies — five of whom were hospitalized with broken bones, torn muscles, and concussions, the outlet reported.
The nine who fell managed to avoid any more serious injuries, authorities said.
“When I saw that video and at the scene saw the length of decking that had collapsed, it’s a miracle they weren’t more seriously injured,” Steven Lewis, the US marshal for the Eastern District of
Missouri, told the outlet.
The federal task force had been carrying out a multiweek enforcement operation, called Operation Adam’s Watch, named in honor of Adam Walsh, 6, who was abducted and murdered in Florida in 1981, the outlet said.
That morning, the crew of US Marshals and local police had 30 warrants for convicted sex offenders who failed to register their addresses — including Munoz, a 26-year-old convicted for child pornography possession who had stopped reporting to his parole officer.
Munoz turned out not to be in the apartment at the time of the collapse, but later surrendered to authorities, according to the report.
US Marshals Assistant Chief James Tapp said it was a miracle none of the team members’ firearms accidentally discharged when they abruptly plummeted to the ground.
“The fact that they hit the ground in two seconds and there was no accidental discharge of any firearms — that shows the training and discipline of the task force officers and deputies that were involved,” Tapp said.
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