"The individual, the passenger, faces the officer at first, but then when the vehicle backs up, turns his back to the officer, his hands go down and then very abruptly he turns around, his hand goes up towards the officer,” said Cpl. John Wachter of the Baltimore County Police Department, “This caused the officer to fear for his life that that person had a weapon and that person was going to engage him with that weapon, and with that, he fired his weapon at least one time."
Take a closer look at the suspect's actions as the lone deputy faced off with him.
A search of the area turned up no weapon, but police did later discover a loaded handgun inside the car.
"The weapon was found in the passenger compartment of the car within reach of both the driver and the passenger in that vehicle," said Chief Jim Johnson.
The man behind the wheel of that car, 29-year old Timothy Dudeck now faces a series of charges for alleged drug dealing since a pat down turned up bags of Oxycodone pills, suspected cocaine and more than $1,800 in cash.
Detectives found more cash, a scale and multiple cell phones in the car.
The only question, which remains is whether the officer was justified in firing on Dudeck's alleged accomplice and that now rides on a video, which captured that moment in time.
"The officer was faced with a very challenging situation and certainly we believe he exercised the training that he's been provided," said Johnson.
Police still have not released the name of the wounded suspect, but they say he remains hospitalized and is expected to survive.
They plan to charge him upon his release.
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