This is a portion of a 40 minute interaction between Pennsylvania state troopers and Daniel Clary. Police said Clary failed three field sobriety tests before struggling with the troopers during his arrest. He grabs a gun, police say, and fires on the troopers. (NBC10 has paused the video during the moments the trooper is shot.)
What to Know
- Newly-released dash camera video illustrates a dramatic struggle between two Pennsylvania State troopers and a driver.
- In the Nov. 2017 incident, troopers tasered the man after they say he tried to grab their gun. He eventually got a gun and shot one trooper.
- Troopers say the man was pulled over for a traffic violation and failed three field sobriety tests.
When video from the dash camera of a state police vehicle was shown at the trial of Daniel Clary in June, the Northampton County, Pennsylvania, assistant district attorney said it "confirmed everything that the police said and every they did."
A jury agreed after being shown the video that captured the violent encounter between Clary, 22, and two troopers on a fateful day in November 2017. Clary was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder for shooting Cpl. Seth Kelly and Trooper Ryan Seiple on Route 33 about 20 miles north of Bethlehem.
Kelly nearly died. His heart stopped for more than five minutes en route to a hospital.
The video was released Thursday to NBC10 through a right-to-know request.
Its release comes slightly more than a month since that emotional day in a courtroom June 27 as jurors watched the dashcam video of the gunfight.
Kelly, a 13-year veteran of the state police, was shot as he and Seiple made a roadside arrest. He may have saved his own life by applying a police-issued tourniquet on his wounded leg before paramedics arrived, according to officials.
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In his testimony at the trial, Seiple said he initially pulled Clary over for speeding and became suspicious that he had been driving under the influence. Seiple then called for backup to conduct a field sobriety test and Kelly arrived at the scene.
In the video, Clary struggles to complete three sobriety tests. When Seiple tries to arrest him, he resists and reaches for Kelly’s holstered gun.
Both troopers tased Clary several times. In the video, Clary appears to be in pain and asks the officers to stop. Both officers punched Clary multiple times.
“He was trying to kill us,” Seiple told the jury while fighting back tears.
The video then shows Clary breaking away from the troopers and grabbing a gun from his own car before firing several shots. The troopers returned fire.
During an earlier hearing, Seiple said he remembered falling backward during the shootout.
“The first thought that crossed my mind was, ‘Please don’t let me get shot in the back of the spine,’” he testified. “The second was, ‘Don’t let me get shot in the head.’ The third was, ‘Don’t let me die.’”
Clary, who was shot several times during the shootout, managed to drive himself to Easton Hospital. Seiple said he then rushed to save Kelly, who had been shot three times, once in an artery.
Seiple told the jury Kelly was bleeding out and screaming in pain though he had already managed to apply a tourniquet to his own leg. Another tourniquet was applied and they struggled to contain the bleeding. Kelly was eventually airlifted from the highway.
Kelly told the International Association of Chiefs of Police that he was in a medically induced coma for 12 days and retains no memory of the shooting.
“I’m just extremely lucky to be here right now,” Kelly said in a video posted by the association.
When Clary arrived at the hospital for treatment for his injuries, he confessed to shooting at the officers and attempting to disarm them, state police said. He was taken to Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest for surgery and remained hospitalized for five days.
