GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: Body camera footage of incident where RPD Officer was blinded

Editor’s Note: The body camera video has been edited for graphic content.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The Monroe County District Attorney’s Office Wednesday released the body camera video from the incident where Officer Denny Wright was stabbed in the face multiple times and blinded, back in October of 2019.

It happened on Oct. 4, 2019, inside a Peck Street home. RPD Officer Denny Wright was responding to a mental health call when Keith Williams attacked him, stabbing him multiple times, including in the face. The attack took Wright’s vision in both eyes.

The jury that found Williams guilty on all counts watched the footage as part of the trial. In addition, Wright himself testified about what happened to him.

The video starts with Wright arriving at the home in his patrol car and entering the house, where he finds Williams hiding under a bed.
Wright calls an ambulance and calmly, carefully, he tries to talk Williams into coming out.

"Keith, what I’m going to need you to do is get out from there and then we can walk out too… OK, thank you," Wright said. "When the ambulance… OK, you’re all right. You’re OK, hey, no hurry."

Relatives explain to Wright that Williams is mentally ill and should be on medication, and it looks like he’s coming quietly, but not for long.

He attempts to run out of the house then Williams escalates, punching Wright. In the melee, Wright drops the clip from his pistol and fires a single shot, emptying his gun and making it harmless as the two men struggle.

Then, Williams comes at him with a knife, repeatedly stabbing him around the face and neck and knocking the body-worn camera off of him.

As the body camera lies on the floor, Wright still manages to grab Williams, hold him, and yell for help, as Williams declares he wants to kill Wright.

Then, from the floor, the camera captures the moment that three bystanders came in to help and more police came to put the cuffs on Williams.

"I got him handcuffed," the officer says. "I got him handcuffed. I got him handcuffed."

But by that time, the damage had already been done.

"Oh my God, I can’t see," Wright exclaims.

Fellow officers led Wright from the scene.

"I got you," they say. "I got you."

The officers rushed Wright to the hospital themselves. Wright spent three weeks at the hospital, but doctors could not save his sight.

The video is graphic and includes language that some may find offensive. Watch it at your own discretion in the video in the player below:

A shorter version of the footage, which was edited by News10NBC staff to exclude some of the more disturbing parts, as well as the language, is available in this story for those who wish to see a version that is not as difficult to watch.