Newly released video footage shows Donny Youngblood, the sheriff of California's Kern County, stating that he believes it is "better financially" to kill a suspect instead of shooting to wound, according to the New York Daily News. 

The video was recorded in 2006 when Youngblood was looking for an endorsement. Viewers can hear him asking,  “When a deputy shoots somebody, which way is better financially? To cripple them or kill them for the county?”

"Kill them?” an unknown person off camera answered. 

Youngblood responded, "Absolutely, Because if you cripple them you have to take care of them for life and that cost goes way up." 

The video was posted to Facebook by a union, the Kern County Detention Officers Association (KCDOA). 

Kevin Dees, the president of KCDOA, said the union is supporting Justin Fleeman for sheriff in the 2018 election. While going through archived videos to determine what promises Youngblood failed to meet, they stumbled upon the footage. 

The clip is particularly probalematic for Youngblood as the county has been criticized for having a large number of police shootings; at one time, the county's officers were labelled “America’s deadliest police." 

According to an in-depth report from The Guardian,  "police in Kern County, California, have killed more people per capita than in any other American county in 2015." 

Opponents of Youngblood say that he is to blame for all of this violence, and have accused him of reducing a human life to a taxpayer-funded payout. 

“When a guy makes a bad shoot on somebody and kills them, $3 million dollars and the family goes away,” Youngblood said in the video. 

In an interview with Bakersfield.com, Youngblood said the video was taken out of context. 

“I’ve never inferred that we should shoot to kill,” Youngblood said. “Do I wish I would have said it differently? I certainly do. They weren’t offended back then. Still, they are my words and I own them.”