Fort Worth police chase and standoff video released: 'Nah, dude. I'm not doing that'

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth and Lake Worth police departments released the 911 audio, dash and body camera video, and cellphone video related to a chase and standoff with a gunman who threw fireworks at officers.

Deadly police shooting video released

What's new:

The video clips released during a Thursday morning news conference show a red pickup truck speeding away from Lake Worth police officers after a traffic stop on Jan. 30.

The driver, identified as 35-year-old Nicholas Sides, is seen crashing his truck through the backyard fence of a home in the Fort Worth suburb of Sansom Park.

"He drove through a backyard and crashed through a fence and not too long after his vehicle came to a rest, he exited and shot at our officers five times,"  Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian said.

Eventually, he gets back into his truck and drives to a home in Fort Worth, where he takes his mother hostage.

Sides called 911 during the standoff and told the dispatcher he'd released his mother "so she could go meet the police." But he said he wanted to talk to her on the phone because the "SWAT team is gonna come into the house to kill me."

The dispatcher urged Sides to comply with the officer's demands. 

"Nah, nah, dude. I'm not doing that. That's the issue. I'm not going back to prison for the rest of… I'll f---ing kill myself first," Sides responded.

After hours of negotiations, video shows Sides coming outside with a handgun pointed at his head.

Officers first used less lethal force to try to get him to drop his weapon. A SWAT officer shot him when police said he fired at the officers.

"We had a violent person who made it clear he was not going back. He said he'd rather kill himself," Fort Worth PD Chief Neil Noakes said. "Once he turned and fired at my officers, they only had one option, and they did what they were trained to do."

Sides died at the hospital. 

No officers were hurt.

Police said Sides had a lengthy criminal history and was on parole for aggravated robbery.

"He was on parole for aggravated robbery. He was on federal probation for unlawful transport for weapons at the time," Chief Manoushagian said.

Lake Worth chase and Fort Worth standoff

The backstory:

The chase and hours-long standoff started this past Thursday afternoon when a Lake Worth officer tried to pull the suspect over for a traffic violation.

Lake Worth police said Sides fired at officers during the stop, which prompted a chase that ended with him barricading himself inside his mother’s home in the 1700 block of Skyline Drive in Fort Worth.

At that point, Fort Worth PD’s SWAT team joined to assist Lake Worth police.

"We know this gentleman was on federal probation at the time with a lengthy criminal history," Chief Manoushagian said. "During the pursuit, members of our special operations unit did witness him throw items out of the vehicle. We’ve attempted to locate those. We’ve been unsuccessful."

Sides briefly held his mother hostage in the home, but he eventually released her unharmed.

He also set off fireworks aimed at police as crisis intervention negotiators tried to get him to surrender.

Police said Sides eventually came out of the home holding a gun to his own head. The negotiators continued trying to deescalate the situation, but ultimately Sides fired at officers again. 

A Fort Worth SWAT officer returned fire, killing him. 

What's next:

The Tarant County District Attorney's Office is investigating the officer-involved shooting.

Both police departments also conducted internal reviews.

The officers involved in the shooting were placed on routine administrative leave but have since returned to work.

Fort WorthFort Worth Police DepartmentCrime and Public SafetyLake Worth