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Police had been seeking Jesse B. Lees in connection with the homicide death of Jennifer A. Morris, 25, of Topeka. Topeka police fatally shot the reportedly armed Lees about 11:15 a.m. Details as to what precipitated the killing were withheld by police.

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/2021/09/10/police-shoot-armed-homicide-suspect-central-topeka-no-officers-hurt/8276736002/ 

On 09/10/2021, a Salt Lake City Police Department SWAT sniper shot and killed 31-year-old Joseph Anthony Manhard after an approximately seven-hour hostage standoff at a Farmington residence. Manhard was born 09/22/1989 and died twelve days before his 32nd birthday; some police and news reports incorrectly listed him as 32.
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The events began after police sought Manhard in connection with an alleged domestic-violence incident involving an ex-girlfriend two days earlier. He had been charged on 09/09/2021 with aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping, both first-degree felonies, and unauthorized vehicle control, and a no-bail arrest warrant had been issued. Police alleged he had threatened to kill the woman and himself with a firearm.
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At approximately 1:30 a.m. on September 10, Clearfield police located Manhard and attempted to arrest him. Police said he drove away into the Freeport Center and abandoned his vehicle. While officers were investigating the abandoned vehicle, a nearby woman called 911 and reported that a man had carjacked her at gunpoint. Police attributed the carjacking to Manhard.
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Police said Manhard fired a gun during the carjacking and drove away in the woman's vehicle. Utah Highway Patrol troopers and Davis County sheriff's deputies subsequently pursued him south on Interstate 15. Police used spike strips, and Manhard eventually abandoned the disabled vehicle near Shepard Lane in Farmington and ran across I-15 into a residential neighborhood.
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During the search, police said Manhard fired a shot through the front window of one residence while apparently attempting to enter it. The bullet penetrated the glass, but Manhard did not enter that house. He then entered the residence at 1645 S. Tuscany Grove Circle through an open basement window.
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Members of the family were inside. Early police accounts described five hostages, although the later Davis County Attorney report stated that three people were in the house when Manhard entered. One daughter escaped through a basement window. Manhard later allowed the father to leave the house. The remaining family members were held inside while police surrounded the residence.
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Multiple agencies responded, including Farmington police, Davis County Sheriff's Office and Salt Lake City Police Department SWAT. Negotiations continued for several hours. Salt Lake City deployed a SWAT sniper and spotter.
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The later prosecutor's review established substantially more detail about the fatal shooting than the initial reports. At approximately 9:07 a.m., Manhard came outside. According to Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings' review, the SWAT sniper observed Manhard carrying a handgun and believed Manhard was presenting an immediate threat to the remaining hostages. The Salt Lake City sniper fired the fatal shot. Manhard was transported to a hospital, where he died.
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The sniper and his spotter were equipped with body cameras, but neither camera recorded the events immediately preceding the shooting or the shooting itself. Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown acknowledged that a camera positioned to record from the sniper team's location was not recording even though officers apparently believed it was. The camera recorded the aftermath. Other officers' cameras recorded portions of the incident, but SLCPD initially withheld those recordings because they depicted the interior of the family's home and medical or mental-health treatment.
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The fatal shooting was investigated through the Davis County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Protocol rather than by Salt Lake City police alone. The protocol provides for a separate criminal investigation of an involved officer's actions and an administrative investigation by the officer's employing agency.
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Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings reviewed the investigation and announced on 12/08/2021 that the sniper would not be charged. Rawlings concluded that the officer reasonably believed deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to the hostages and ruled the shooting legally justified.
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The prosecutor's report also documented the approximately seven-hour ordeal inside the residence and concluded that Manhard had threatened and endangered the hostages before the sniper fired. The family later publicly thanked the officers involved in ending the standoff.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The officer who killed Joseph Manhard was a Salt Lake City Police Department SWAT sniper. Despite the completed outside investigation and December 2021 prosecutorial decision, the officer's name was not disclosed in the public records and reporting located during this update. SLCPD's official critical-incident fact sheet likewise identifies the shooter only as an SLCPD SWAT sniper/operator.
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The sniper and his spotter failed to record the shooting with their body cameras. SLCPD acknowledged that neither camera captured the moments immediately preceding the use of deadly force or the shooting itself. The department had adopted disciplinary provisions for officers who failed to activate body cameras.

https://ksltv.com/472313/carjacking-suspect-taken-into-custody-after-swat-hostage-situation-in-farmington/
https://www.ksl.com/article/50246214/man-shot-killed-by-police-after-hostage-situation-in-farmington
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/9/10/22666153/farmington-police-shooting-hostage-standoff
https://www.davisjournal.com/2021/09/10/368131/police-shoot-suspect-after-hostage-situation-in-farmington
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/massive-police-presence-on-i-15-in-farmington-as-police-search-for-suspect
https://www.standard.net/police-fire/2021/sep/10/man-shot-in-farmington-swat-standoff-after-carjacking-chase/
https://www.ksl.com/article/50238810/gunman-killed-by-police-after-holding-farmington-family-hostage-for-7-hours
https://www.ksl.com/article/50253580/gunman-who-held-family-hostage-did-drugs-during-hourslong-standoff-report-says
https://www.ksl.com/article/50248637/utah-family-held-hostage-offers-thanks-cameras-failed-to-capture-shooting-of-gunman
https://www.slcpd.com/ass3ts/uploads/2021/09/Media-Fact-Sheet.pdf
https://www.ksl.com/article/50307955/officer-who-shot-man-holding-utah-family-hostage-justified-in-using-deadly-force-prosecutor-rules
https://www.ksl.com/article/50311807/report-details-harrowing-7-hour-hostage-ordeal-in-farmington
https://www.standard.net/police-fire/2021/dec/09/officer-cleared-in-farmington-fatal-police-shooting-that-ended-hostage-standoff/
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/utah-woman-held-as-hostage-in-own-home-shares-her-experience
https://www.premierfuneral.com/obituaries/joseph-manhard/obituary

On 09/10/2021, 28-year-old Jessee Conrad Rickman died after nine Phoenix Police Department officers restrained him near the 1400 block of North 7th Avenue. Phoenix police records identify the involved officers as Austin Martin, Steven Land, Jacob Ninow, Autumn Ladines, Anthony Fink, Joseph Overly, Ryan O’Hayer, Garrett Joyner and Timothy Kittl.
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At approximately 12:48 a.m., Martin and Land responded to multiple calls reporting a naked man in the roadway on North 7th Avenue between West Palm Avenue and West Willetta Street. They found Rickman completely nude in the northbound lanes north of the Interstate 10 off-ramp. Police records state that Rickman was yelling nonsensical statements, sweating heavily and clenching his fist as he walked toward Martin. Contemporary reporting said he was speaking about God and the devil.
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Martin and Land ordered Rickman to stop. Police records state that Land grabbed Rickman’s right arm and Martin grabbed his left arm. Because Rickman was sweating and officers were having difficulty maintaining their grip, Martin and Land took him to the ground and requested additional officers.
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Ninow, Ladines, Fink, Overly, O’Hayer, Joyner and Kittl arrived. According to the department’s later in-custody-death report, Rickman did not give officers his hands, made spitting noises and kicked at officers. Officers used what the department described as “soft-open hand techniques” to handcuff him behind his back. They then placed a spit hood over his head and applied a RIP leg restraint.
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Ninow and O’Hayer maintained physical control of Rickman and placed him on his side within seconds after he was handcuffed. Officers subsequently moved him from the roadway to a seated position on the east sidewalk. The department’s internal report states that Ninow and O’Hayer then placed their knees on Rickman’s back while he was seated.
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Phoenix Fire Department personnel arrived and began evaluating Rickman while he remained restrained. During that evaluation he became unresponsive. Ninow and O’Hayer removed the handcuffs, spit hood and RIP restraint, and fire personnel began CPR. Rickman was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead.
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Phoenix police released edited body-camera footage approximately two weeks later. The footage showed portions of Rickman’s restraint and showed him on his side while Phoenix Fire personnel evaluated him before he became unresponsive.
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The department’s internal use-of-force records classify Rickman as having exhibited passive resistance, psychological intimidation, verbal noncompliance, active resistance and active aggression. The same records identify officers’ perception of drug impairment and record the outcome as a fatality.
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The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office received the in-custody-death investigation on 02/07/2022. On 03/07/2022, the County Attorney cleared the case.
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Phoenix Police Department records show that its Critical Incident Review Board did not review Rickman’s death until 02/13/2024, more than two years after he died. CIRB determined the officers’ actions were within department policy.
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Internal records subsequently made public show that body-camera files from Martin, Ninow, Ladines, Fink and O’Hayer were attached to the department’s investigation, along with Phoenix Fire Department records and photographs. The internal case was returned for additional administrative work in March 2024 before again being listed as completed.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Phoenix Police Department records identify Austin Martin and Steven Land as the first officers to make physical contact with Rickman. Jacob Ninow and Ryan O’Hayer subsequently maintained physical control of Rickman, placed him in the recovery position and later placed their knees against his back while he was seated and restrained. Autumn Ladines, Anthony Fink, Joseph Overly, Garrett Joyner and Timothy Kittl also responded and are formally identified by Phoenix police as involved employees.
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The department’s Critical Incident Review Board determined on 02/13/2024 that the force in Rickman’s case was within policy.
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Rickman died only five weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice opened a pattern-or-practice civil-rights investigation of Phoenix police on 08/05/2021. The investigation specifically examined use of force, treatment of people with behavioral-health disabilities, treatment of homeless people, discriminatory policing and police accountability.
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In June 2024, DOJ announced that it had found reasonable cause to conclude that Phoenix police engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive force, including unjustified deadly force; unlawfully detained, cited and arrested homeless people; discriminated against Black, Hispanic and Native American people; and, together with the city, discriminated against people with behavioral-health disabilities in dispatching and responding to crisis calls.
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DOJ specifically found problems involving Phoenix officers’ use of leg restraints and compression restraints and found that officers frequently escalated encounters unnecessarily. DOJ also found systemic deficiencies in Phoenix’s response to behavioral-health crises. These were department-wide findings and were not findings that the officers in Rickman’s case violated federal law.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-breaking/2021/09/11/man-dies-after-being-restrained-by-phoenix-police/
https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/man-dies-after-phoenix-police-restraint/75-2e8f9a62-9b9a-4a3f-bb4a-3b9c9f2a2c7a
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/man-dies-after-phoenix-police-restraint
https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/police-investigating-death-central-phoenix-sept-10-2021/75-a0d9cf12-2d98-463e-8b3f-edc022e21039
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/phoenix-intersection-closed-due-to-death-investigation
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/death-investigation-underway-near-7th-avenue-and-mcdowell-road
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/body-cam-video-shows-phoenix-officers-detaining-naked-man-before-dying-in-custody
https://kyma.com/news/arizona-news/2021/09/16/man-who-died-in-custody-after-running-nude-in-phoenix-identified/
https://dojrecords.phoenix.gov/Documents/C14_PSB_In_Custody_Death_Report_1.pdf
https://dojrecords.phoenix.gov/Documents/C14_Use_Of_Force_Report_4.pdf
https://maricopacountyattorney.org/563/First-Responder-Critical-Incident-Callou
https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/phoenix-police-department
https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/phoenix-police-department-findings-report

On 09/10/2021, 12-year-old Le’Den Boykins was killed when Georgia State Patrol Trooper David Peterson performed a PIT maneuver at approximately 87 mph on the Kia in which Le’Den was a backseat passenger. The vehicle left Georgia Highway 92, traveled down an embankment and rolled into a ditch. Le’Den was partially ejected and killed. Another child, the driver’s 14-year-old son, was also in the vehicle. A later AJC investigation identified Peterson by name and reconstructed the pursuit from GSP internal-affairs records, pursuit critiques, dispatch recordings and dashcam video.
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The encounter began at approximately 1 a.m. when Peterson stopped the Kia after observing it speeding on Bethel Church Road. Peterson subsequently reported smelling alcohol and observing that the driver had bloodshot eyes. Le’Den was not the driver and was not suspected of any offense.
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The traffic stop became confrontational after the driver did not fully lower his window and asked for a supervisor. Peterson called for backup, and three Paulding County deputies arrived. One deputy, identified by the Boykins family from police records as Unk Myers, broke the driver’s window while officers attempted to remove the driver from the Kia. The driver then drove away, and Peterson and the deputies pursued.
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The pursuit proceeded through residential areas and onto larger roads, at times exceeding 95 mph. The driver called 911 during the pursuit. Dispatch recordings established that Paulding County personnel learned children were inside the fleeing Kia.
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Paulding deputies began coordinating a plan to box the Kia in and force it to slow. Peterson, however, was operating on a different radio frequency and was not communicating directly with the deputies. A Paulding dispatcher contacted the GSP dispatcher by telephone specifically to determine whether Peterson knew children were in the vehicle. The GSP dispatcher said Peterson did not.
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As dispatchers attempted to relay that information, the pursuit entered a construction zone and speeds exceeded 100 mph. Before the information about the children reached Peterson, he performed the PIT maneuver. Later investigation determined the PIT occurred at approximately 87 mph. The Kia went down an embankment and overturned, ejecting Le’Den. Immediately afterward, Peterson radioed, “PIT successful.”
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Peterson later maintained that he had not known children were inside. He told investigators that during the initial stop he could not clearly identify the front-seat passenger and could not see anyone in the back because of the Kia’s window tint. His internal-affairs account stated that his attention had remained focused on the driver.
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Le’Den’s family disputed that account. Their attorney, Lee Merritt, said officers had stood immediately beside the Kia, shined lights inside and had ample opportunity to observe both children before the pursuit. The family also pointed to the 911 and dispatch communications establishing that law enforcement knew children were present while the pursuit was underway.
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GSP conducted an internal investigation and pursuit critique. Peterson’s supervisor determined that his conduct was largely within GSP policy. Peterson received coaching for approaching a vehicle when he could not see its rear seat, failing to fully communicate his actions during the pursuit and inaccurately identifying an observed traffic violation, rather than a suspicious driver, as the reason for the initial stop. He was not disciplined for performing the fatal PIT.
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The driver was criminally prosecuted for Le’Den’s death. In May 2023, he pleaded guilty to first-degree vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on an officer and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He apologized to Le’Den’s parents during sentencing. Murder charges originally brought against him were resolved through the plea.
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Le’Den’s parents, Toni Franklin and Anthony Boykins, continued seeking accountability from the officers and argued that the pursuit should have been de-escalated rather than terminated with a high-speed PIT. They called for criminal charges against Peterson and the Paulding County officers and sought appointment of a special prosecutor.
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Franklin and Boykins subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against Peterson and the Georgia Department of Public Safety arising from Le’Den’s death. By December 2024, state attorneys were seeking dismissal while the family continued challenging Peterson’s decision to perform the PIT.
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A major 2024 Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation of GSP pursuits obtained and analyzed thousands of agency pursuit critiques and internal-affairs records. It found that GSP performed more than 2,000 PIT maneuvers from 2019 through 2023 and linked PITs to 19 deaths during that period; nine of those killed were passengers. Most GSP pursuits involving PITs began over traffic infractions.
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The AJC found that GSP policy imposed no maximum speed for PIT maneuvers, did not prohibit PITs when children or other passengers were present, did not require supervisors to participate in the critical PIT decision and permitted pursuits even when a driver could potentially be identified and arrested later. The investigation found GSP performed PITs at speeds exceeding 100 mph.
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The same investigation found that GSP’s internal review process rarely found fault with troopers’ decisions to perform PIT maneuvers, including fatal PITs. Half of GSP pursuits analyzed ended in crashes, and GSP terminated only 17% of pursuits during the five-year period reviewed.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
David Peterson was the Georgia State Patrol trooper who performed the PIT maneuver that killed Le’Den Boykins. GSP records show Peterson graduated from the 108th Trooper School in May 2020 and was assigned to Post 29 in Paulding County, making him a relatively new trooper when Le’Den was killed in September 2021.
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Le’Den’s fatal pursuit was only Peterson’s second pursuit as a state trooper. Despite the death of a 12-year-old passenger during an approximately 87-mph PIT, GSP’s pursuit critique concluded that Peterson had demonstrated good driving and decision-making. He received coaching for three other issues but was not disciplined for the PIT itself.
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Peterson’s internal account stated that he had not recognized either passenger as a child and had not seen Le’Den in the back seat. Dispatch records independently establish that Paulding County personnel knew children were in the Kia and were attempting to transmit that information to GSP, but Peterson’s radio was on a different frequency and the warning did not reach him before he performed the PIT.
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Unk Myers was identified by Le’Den’s family from Paulding County records as the officer who broke the Kia’s window immediately before the driver left the traffic stop. Three Paulding County deputies participated in the encounter and subsequent pursuit.
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The later AJC investigation found GSP to be an outlier among state patrol agencies in its permissive PIT policy. Of 44 state-police pursuit policies examined, 21 imposed high-speed restrictions and/or required supervisory involvement that GSP did not require. Ten prohibited pursuits for traffic infractions, while GSP allowed both pursuits and PIT maneuvers arising from traffic offenses.
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GSP’s PIT practices continued producing fatalities after Le’Den’s death. The AJC documented 19 deaths associated with GSP PIT maneuvers over the five-year period from 2019 through 2023, including nine passengers, and found that troopers rarely received discipline after fatal PITs.
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In 2026, a separate Georgia Department of Public Safety internal investigation exposed additional misconduct involving GSP PITs. Troopers Hunter Waters, Tyler Byrd and Isaiah Francois were fired after investigators found they sought personal-injury insurance settlements following pursuits in which they intentionally struck vehicles as part of PIT or other pursuit-termination maneuvers. Supervisor Joseph Curlee was also fired after investigators found he knew of the practice, failed to report it and attempted to participate himself. Those troopers were not involved in Le’Den’s death.

https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/01/advocates-speak-out-after-recent-deadly-police-pursuits-in-metro-atlanta/
https://atlantablackstar.com/2023/01/16/there-are-kids-in-the-car-family-of-12-year-old-killed-during-high-speed-chase-wants-officers-held-accountable-for-violating-pit-maneuver-policy/
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/leden-boykins-gsp-pit-maneuver-chase-crash-paulding-county
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/charlie-moore-bond-hearing-georgia-state-patrol-pit-maneuver-ledan-boykins-death
https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/leden-boykins-clayton-county-trooper-crash
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/man-gets-15-years-for-fleeing-troopers-in-paulding-12-year-old-killed-in-crash/6OFRBGM7AFDZZGYX2XSECQJEGM/
https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/chases-unchecked-gsp-high-speed-pits-lead-to-death-across-georgia/IGGP2EMTCVAUFNORUBVKF5SWQE/
https://dps.georgia.gov/press-releases/2020-05-14/georgia-state-patrol-graduates-its-108th-trooper-school
https://www.wtoc.com/2026/04/17/pit-pay-georgia-troopers-financially-profited-pursuits-they-initiated-investigation-finds/
https://www.wtoc.com/2026/05/25/four-georgia-state-patrol-troopers-fired-filing-injury-claims-after-pit-maneuvers/

https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/04/01/advocates-speak-out-after-recent-deadly-police-pursuits-in-metro-atlanta/

https://atlantablackstar.com/2023/01/16/there-are-kids-in-the-car-family-of-12-year-old-killed-during-high-speed-chase-wants-officers-held-accountable-for-violating-pit-maneuver-policy/

On 09/09/2021, 23-year-old William Escano Yah fatally shot himself as Houston Police Department officers approached to arrest him near Burnett Bayland Park in southwest Houston. He was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead.
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HPD was seeking Escano Yah in connection with the killings of four members of his family at 7518 Imogene Street. Houston firefighters responding to a house fire on 09/05/2021 found Jairo Escano Martinez, 37; Elvira Del Carmen Yah Aviles, 46; and two children, a 12-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy, dead inside. HPD reported that all four appeared to have been shot. Family members identified the children as Isabel Escano and Jairo Escano Jr.; contemporary news reports gave Isabel's age as 13.
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Escano Yah was Elvira Yah Aviles' son and Jairo Escano Martinez's stepson. Police said there were no signs of forced entry at the family residence and later identified Escano Yah as the person suspected of killing all four family members.
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Investigators were also looking for a vehicle missing from the family's home. Surveillance video from a neighboring residence reportedly showed a vehicle matching that description traveling to and from the Imogene Street residence around the period of the killings and fire.
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At approximately 8:30 a.m. on September 9, officers located Escano Yah inside the family's stolen vehicle in the 6000 block of Alder Drive beside Burnett Bayland Park. As officers approached and gave him verbal commands, police said Escano Yah shot himself in the head.
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HPD officers did not shoot Escano Yah. Police reported that the fatal gunshot was self-inflicted and that he shot himself while officers were attempting to take him into custody.
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HPD said investigators did not believe another person participated in the four killings. Escano Yah's death therefore ended the possibility of prosecuting the person police had identified as responsible for the quadruple homicide.

https://abc13.com/escano-family-murders-man-suspected-of-killing-4-suicide-at-burnett-bayland-park-houston-murder-suspect-killed/11010584/
https://www.houstontx.gov/police/nr/2021/sep/nr090921-5.htm
https://abc13.com/houston-crime-family-found-dead-in-home-after-house-fire-imogene-street/11006558/
https://abc13.com/house-fire-bodies-found-four-shot-houston-shooting/11001313/

On 09/09/2021, Fort Worth Police Department officers shot and killed an unidentified man during a traffic stop in the 1900 block of SE Loop 820 in southeast Fort Worth. The shooting occurred during the evening hours. The original Fort Worth Star-Telegram, CBS DFW and NBC DFW reports all covered the shooting, but the surviving archived/indexed material contains unusually little detail about the encounter.
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Officers had initiated a traffic stop before the shooting. During the encounter, Fort Worth police officers fired at the driver, killing him at the scene. The contemporaneous public reporting did not establish the specific traffic violation or other reason that caused police to initiate the stop.
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The original reporting did not publicly identify the man, give his age or disclose his race. A search of later reporting and indexed records through 2026 did not produce a reliable subsequent identification that can be tied to this shooting.
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The available reporting likewise does not establish what police alleged the man did immediately before officers fired, whether police alleged he possessed or displayed a weapon, how many officers fired, how many rounds were discharged, or whether any non-police witnesses recorded the encounter.
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The location reported for the shooting, the 1900 block of SE Loop 820, is an industrial/commercial area. Public property records identify 1900 SE Loop 820 as a large industrial property. This does not establish that the shooting occurred on that property rather than on the adjacent roadway.
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The original reports stated that the police shooting was under investigation. Later publicly searchable material located for this update does not identify the involved officers or establish a subsequent criminal prosecution arising from the shooting.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Fort Worth police officers who shot and killed the man have not been publicly identified.
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The Fort Worth Police Department has a substantial documented history of controversial uses of deadly force and accountability problems, but no officer-specific history can responsibly be attached to this case without identifying the officers who fired.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article254143698.html
https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/09/09/fort-worth-police-shooting-investigation/
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/police-investigating-officer-involved-shooting-in-fort-worth/2740145/

On 09/09/2021, California Highway Patrol Officer Michael Griffin shot and killed 35-year-old Charles David Chivrell on Mad River Road in the rural Arcata Bottoms. Arcata Police Sgt. Brian Hoffman had fired multiple pepperball rounds into Chivrell immediately before Griffin fired the fatal rifle shot. The encounter was later investigated criminally, reviewed by the Humboldt County District Attorney, and became the subject of extensive federal civil-rights litigation brought by Chivrell's estate, widow and children.
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The encounter began at approximately 10:47 a.m. when a caller reported a man walking in the roadway near Heindon Road and Miller Lane carrying a firearm and briefcase. CHP Officers Michael Griffin and Moises Cornejo-Mercado and Arcata police responded. Chivrell was openly carrying a handgun in a holster. He was not being sought for a crime and was not the fugitive whom law enforcement had been searching for in the same general area that morning.
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Officers followed Chivrell as he continued walking. Later federal court records show Griffin attempted to communicate with him, including telling Chivrell that police needed to talk to him. At one point Chivrell told Griffin to stop pointing his rifle at him; Griffin lowered the rifle, displayed his hands and attempted to continue talking. Chivrell proceeded onto Mad River Road, a roughly four-mile dead-end rural road with approximately 20 houses.
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Arcata Police Officers Joseph Rodes, Evan Beechel and Alexander Bonaparte joined the response. The officers continued following Chivrell in a caravan while he walked away from them. Police described Chivrell as behaving erratically and making threatening statements. Officers also encountered motorists, a bicyclist and residences along the route.
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Police decided to use a pepperball launcher against Chivrell. Arcata Police Sgt. Brian Hoffman exited a CHP vehicle and fired multiple pepperball projectiles into Chivrell's back and legs. The later federal civil-rights lawsuit specifically challenged Hoffman's decision to fire the pepperballs at Chivrell while Chivrell was walking away.
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According to the officers' account accepted by the Humboldt County District Attorney, after the pepperballs struck him Chivrell reached for the holstered handgun, drew it and raised it while turning toward police. Hoffman reported hearing a gunshot and hearing a bullet pass his head. Cornejo-Mercado similarly reported seeing Chivrell draw his pistol and hearing a shot. Griffin reported seeing Chivrell draw and raise the handgun toward officers.
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Griffin fired one round from his CHP rifle. The bullet struck Chivrell in the back of the head. Chivrell was transported to Mad River Community Hospital and pronounced dead.
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The Humboldt County Critical Incident Response Team investigated. The team included personnel from the Eureka Police Department, Humboldt County District Attorney's Office, Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, Arcata Police Department, CHP and Ferndale Police Department; the Humboldt County Coroner and California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services also participated.
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Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming completed the criminal review in March 2022. She concluded that Hoffman was legally justified in deploying the pepperballs and that Griffin reasonably used deadly force after Chivrell drew and fired his handgun. Neither officer was criminally charged.
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The criminal clearance did not end scrutiny of the encounter. Chivrell's estate, surviving wife Arielle Chivrell and children filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in January 2022 against the City of Arcata, Arcata Police Department, CHP, State of California, Griffin, Hoffman and other officers. A separate action was brought by additional children and the cases were subsequently related. The litigation alleged excessive force, disability discrimination, interference with familial association, violations of California's Bane Act, battery, negligence and wrongful death.
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The family's version focused particularly on the officers' actions before Chivrell drew the handgun. Their complaint alleged that Chivrell was walking away with the gun holstered when Hoffman fired pepperballs into his back, causing him to drop his briefcase and run, and that Griffin then shot him in the back of the head. Those allegations were not findings of fact by the court, but they became central to years of federal litigation over whether police unnecessarily escalated the encounter.
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In September 2024, the federal court granted Hoffman qualified immunity on the Fourth Amendment claim involving the pepperball deployment because existing precedent did not clearly establish that using pepperballs under these particular circumstances was unconstitutional. Importantly, the court expressly did not rule that Hoffman's force was reasonable; it found that factual disputes remained concerning its reasonableness.
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The litigation continued. In August 2025, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam ruled on extensive summary-judgment motions. The court granted Griffin qualified immunity on the federal excessive-force claim, noting Ninth Circuit precedent permitting deadly force when an officer is threatened with a gun and the plaintiffs' acknowledgment that, if Chivrell drew and pointed the gun as described at the final moment, Griffin's shooting was justified. The court's ruling therefore did not erase the family's separate contention that police conduct preceding that moment unnecessarily escalated the encounter.
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The federal litigation remained active well beyond the original 2022 criminal clearance. Court records show proceedings continuing through 2025 and into February 2026, more than four years after Chivrell's death.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
Michael Griffin was the California Highway Patrol officer who fired the single rifle round that killed Charles Chivrell. CHP Officer Moises Cornejo-Mercado was present and provided a witness account of Chivrell allegedly drawing his handgun, but Griffin was the officer who used deadly force. Arcata Police Sgt. Brian Hoffman fired the pepperball projectiles immediately before the fatal shooting. Arcata officers Joseph Rodes, Evan Beechel and Alexander Bonaparte were also present during the encounter.
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Hoffman's use of pepperballs became a significant independent issue in the family's federal litigation. The court ultimately gave Hoffman qualified immunity because plaintiffs could not establish that existing law made his conduct clearly unconstitutional under these specific circumstances, while separately finding that it could not determine as a matter of law that his use of force was reasonable.
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Griffin's fatal shooting likewise received qualified-immunity protection in the federal litigation. In its August 2025 summary-judgment ruling, the court relied on the circumstances at the instant deadly force was used—specifically the evidence that Chivrell drew and pointed a handgun—and existing Ninth Circuit law governing officers confronted by firearms.

https://www.times-standard.com/2021/09/09/chp-officer-involved-shooting-in-arcata-leaves-man-dead/
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/sep/9/man-killed-officer-involved-shooting-arcata/
https://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-arcata
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/sep/9/updating-shooting-arcata-bottoms-sheriffs-office-o/
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/sep/16/mad-river-road-officer-involved-shooting-investiga/
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/mar/9/officers-justified-shooting-gun-wielding-man-arcat/
https://humboldtgov.org/civicalerts.aspx?AID=4230
https://humboldtgov.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=4559&ARC=6355
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/candce/4%3A2022cv00019/390119
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/4%3A2022cv00019/390119/126/
https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/4%3A2022cv00019/390119/159
https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/candce/4%3A2022cv00019/390119/205

On 09/09/2021, Roxboro Police Department Officer J.G. “Trey” Wright III shot 35-year-old Christopher Thomas Vaughan once in the head during a confrontation inside a courtroom at the Person County Courthouse in Roxboro. Vaughan was transported to Duke University Hospital and died from his injuries. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation conducted the criminal investigation.
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Vaughan was in court for a bench trial on a misdemeanor false-imprisonment charge. The charge arose from an incident in which he allegedly attempted to coerce a woman at a Walmart. On September 9, the court found Vaughan guilty.
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According to the subsequent investigation, Vaughan became extremely upset after the guilty verdict, threw a chair and moved toward the judge’s bench. Person County Sheriff’s Office Deputy J.R. Ray, who was serving as courtroom bailiff, intercepted Vaughan before he reached the judge. Vaughan and Ray fell to the floor and struggled.
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Wright was already inside the courtroom because he had testified as a witness in Vaughan’s criminal case. He left the witness stand and joined Ray in attempting to restrain Vaughan. This was therefore not a situation in which Wright was dispatched to confront Vaughan or entered the courthouse in response to the disturbance; he was present because of the trial.
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During the struggle, authorities alleged Vaughan reached for Ray’s holstered service weapon. Wright subsequently told investigators that he saw Vaughan attempting to obtain the deputy’s gun and believed Vaughan posed an immediate threat to Ray, himself and other people in the courtroom. Wright drew his handgun and fired one round, striking Vaughan in the head.
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Ray suffered a laceration to his head and scratches to his neck during the struggle. Wright suffered a broken hand. Both were treated and released from medical facilities.
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There was no video recording of the shooting. The courtroom’s audio recording, however, captured the incident. The SBI obtained that recording and interviewed witnesses. District Attorney Lorrin Freeman later said the courtroom audio corroborated the witness accounts investigators received concerning the confrontation.
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The Person County Sheriff’s Office, Roxboro Police Department and District Attorney’s Office requested an independent investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. SBI therefore conducted the criminal investigation rather than leaving the shooting investigation solely to either of the two local agencies whose personnel were involved.
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The shooting officer was initially withheld from public release. The subsequent prosecutorial review identified him as Roxboro Police Officer J.G. “Trey” Wright III and identified the bailiff as Person County Deputy J.R. Ray.
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District Attorney Lorrin Freeman reviewed the SBI investigation and announced on 11/19/2021 that Wright would not face criminal charges. Freeman concluded that Wright reasonably believed Vaughan’s attempt to obtain Ray’s firearm endangered Wright and other people in the courtroom and therefore determined that Wright’s use of deadly force was lawful.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
J.G. “Trey” Wright III was the Roxboro Police Department officer who shot and killed Christopher Vaughan. Wright had been testifying in Vaughan’s misdemeanor trial and became involved only after Vaughan’s confrontation with the judge and Deputy J.R. Ray began.
.
The later investigation provides considerably greater specificity than the original September 2021 reporting: Wright fired the fatal shot, Ray was the deputy whose weapon Vaughan allegedly attempted to obtain, and SBI—not Roxboro police or the Person County Sheriff’s Office—conducted the criminal investigation.

https://www.wral.com/man-shot-killed-after-courtroom-incident-in-roxboro/19874844/
https://abc11.com/roxboro-courthouse-shooting-person-county/11030312/
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article254151888.html
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2021-09-10/defendant-who-scuffled-with-deputies-inside-courtroom-dies
https://www.ncsbi.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/Update-on-SBI-Investigation-into-OIS-at-Person-Cou
https://abc11.com/post/no-charges-christopher-thomas-vaughan-roxboro-person-county-courthouse/11255421/
https://www.wral.com/archive/19991067/
https://www.witn.com/2021/09/10/defendant-dies-after-struggle-shooting-inside-person-county-courtroom/

On 09/09/2021, Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole shot and killed 37-year-old David Ray Williams in a wooded area near Diggins after an hours-long multi-agency manhunt. Early reporting incorrectly stated that Williams had killed himself; investigators subsequently determined that Cole fired the fatal shot. A later prosecutor's review identified Cole publicly and ruled the shooting justified.
.
The incident began at approximately 5:20 a.m. when emergency personnel responded to a house fire near Diggins. Authorities subsequently connected Williams to that fire, another barn fire, a stolen vehicle and a stolen rifle. Police began searching for him in the Seymour/Diggins area.
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According to the later investigative report, a witness reported seeing Williams point and fire the stolen rifle at a Webster County deputy. The deputy fired six rounds at Williams but did not strike him. Authorities also alleged that Williams pointed the rifle at a Seymour police officer. Williams then ran from the area carrying the rifle.
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Sheriff Cole arrived and joined the search. Authorities alleged that while moving through the rural area Williams committed additional acts including trespassing, harassment, another arson and attempted burglary. Police eventually received information placing him in a wooded area.
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The Missouri State Highway Patrol joined the manhunt and deployed a helicopter, which located Williams in the woods. Williams had climbed into an elevated hunting stand. According to the investigative report, Williams refused commands to disarm, threatened to kill approaching officers and repeatedly shouldered and pointed the rifle toward law enforcement below.
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At approximately 1:20 p.m., a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper moving through heavy brush accidentally discharged his weapon, firing two shots. Because of the terrain and distance separating officers, personnel closer to Williams heard the shots but did not know who had fired them or where they originated. Radio traffic likewise reflected confusion over the source of the gunfire.
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This accidental discharge became directly relevant to the fatal shooting. The investigative report states that Cole did not know a trooper had accidentally fired. Cole knew of the earlier allegation that Williams had fired at a deputy, was watching Williams move and shoulder the rifle, heard the two unidentified gunshots and believed Williams might again have fired toward police. Cole fired one round, striking Williams in the chest.
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After officers determined Williams was no longer holding the rifle, Cole and other officers approached and attempted CPR. Williams died at the scene. An autopsy determined that the gunshot wound to his chest caused his death. Toxicology detected methamphetamine and other drugs.
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The Webster County Sheriff's Office requested an investigation by the regional Sheriff’s Critical Incident Team. The team included personnel from Greene, Christian, Lawrence and Webster counties. The completed investigative package was submitted on 10/07/2021 to the Webster County Prosecuting Attorney. The prosecutor also requested review of portions of the evidence by another area prosecutor.
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The Webster County Prosecuting Attorney subsequently ruled Cole's shooting justified, concluding that Cole reasonably used deadly force in defense of other officers. No criminal charge was filed against Cole.
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Williams' family later challenged the official account in federal litigation. In December 2022, the family filed a wrongful-death/civil-rights lawsuit naming Sheriff Roye Cole, Webster County Presiding Commissioner Paul Ipock and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The lawsuit alleged excessive force and specifically disputed the government's account that Williams fired the rifle during the final encounter, asserting that he never fired the gun.
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The case therefore contains an important distinction between two separate gunfire allegations. The prosecutor's report said an eyewitness saw Williams fire at a Webster County deputy earlier in the manhunt. During the final tree-stand confrontation, however, the two gunshots heard immediately before Cole killed Williams came from the accidental discharge of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper's weapon. Cole did not know their source and believed Williams might have fired.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Roye Cole was the Webster County sheriff who fired the single fatal shot that killed David Ray Williams. Cole was personally participating in the manhunt and later stated that he fired after seeing Williams shoulder and point the rifle toward officers and hearing gunshots whose source he did not know. The subsequent investigation established that those immediately preceding shots had actually been accidentally fired by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper.
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The unidentified Webster County deputy involved earlier in the encounter fired six rounds at Williams after Williams allegedly fired toward him; none struck Williams. The Seymour police officer whom Williams allegedly threatened with the rifle did not fire the fatal shot. The Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper whose rifle accidentally discharged immediately before Cole's fatal shot was also not publicly identified in the detailed prosecutor-review reporting located for this update.
.
The investigation was not conducted solely by Cole's own department. Webster County activated the regional Sheriff’s Critical Incident Team, involving Greene, Christian, Lawrence and Webster counties, and the completed investigation was reviewed by the Webster County Prosecuting Attorney, who additionally sought review of evidence by another area prosecutor.
.
The Williams family nevertheless later alleged in federal litigation that authorities violated Williams' civil rights through excessive force and disputed a central component of the government's gunfire narrative.

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2021/09/10/missouri-man-killed-officer-involved-shooting-after-barn-fire/8255456002/
https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/10/suspect-dead-after-officer-involved-shooting-webster-county/
https://www.ozarksfirst.com/local-news/local-news-local-news/man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-webster-county/
https://www.webstercountycitizen.com/news/article_f7f2f10e-15b2-11ec-aee9-eb41c862b228.html
https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/10/update-webster-county-manhunt-ends-with-death-suspect-officer-involved-shooting-under-investigation/
https://www.ky3.com/2022/01/25/deadly-webster-county-officer-involved-shooting-september-2021-ruled-justified/
https://www.ky3.com/2022/12/15/family-man-shot-killed-by-webster-county-deputies-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit/

On 09/09/2021, 30-year-old Eric H. Liao, an autistic man, died after being physically restrained by employees at West Lanes Bowling Center and then handcuffed by Omaha Police Department officers. Liao became unresponsive at the scene, was transported to Methodist Hospital and was pronounced dead.
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At approximately 1:45 p.m., Omaha police were dispatched to West Lanes Bowling Center near 72nd and Dodge streets after a 911 caller reported that an autistic adult man was allegedly “out of control,” biting his caregiver and being held down by bowling-alley staff. Dispatchers could hear yelling in the background of the call.
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When the first Omaha officer arrived, Liao was already on the ground with a bowling-alley employee physically restraining him. Witnesses told police that Liao had been combative and had bitten people before being restrained. Thus, the significant physical restraint began before police arrived rather than being initiated by officers.
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An Omaha officer placed Liao in handcuffs. Police said the officer then noticed that Liao was unresponsive. The officer began CPR, other officers assisted, and Omaha Fire Department personnel subsequently transported Liao to Methodist Hospital. He was pronounced dead that afternoon.
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Omaha police reviewed officers’ body-camera recordings and reported that the footage showed officers did not use physical force to take Liao to the ground and did not participate in holding him down. The police interaction consisted of arriving while an employee was already restraining Liao, handcuffing him and then beginning resuscitation after recognizing that he was unresponsive.
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The death was nevertheless formally treated as an in-custody death because Liao became unresponsive while being apprehended and after an officer had placed him in handcuffs. The Omaha Police Officer-Involved Investigations Team investigated, with the Nebraska State Patrol and Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office assisting.
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Nebraska law also required a grand-jury review because Liao died while in law-enforcement custody or apprehension. His case was subsequently included among 17 Douglas County in-custody deaths reviewed by a grand jury in March 2022.
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The grand jury returned a “No True Bill” in Liao’s case. It determined there was not probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed in connection with his death. Reporting on the grand-jury findings again stated that body-camera footage showed Liao becoming unresponsive when he was handcuffed and indicated that the responding police officers did not use force against him.
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The factual sequence makes this an unusual police-custody case: Liao was already being physically restrained on the floor by a private employee when police arrived; an officer then handcuffed him; officers recognized that he was unresponsive and began CPR. The later grand-jury review produced no criminal indictment.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Omaha police officers who responded to West Lanes Bowling Center and the officer who handcuffed Eric Liao were not publicly identified in the reporting located for this update.
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The evidence publicly described in the investigation does not attribute the preceding physical restraint to Omaha police. Police body-camera footage reportedly showed that Liao was already being restrained by a bowling-alley employee when officers arrived and that officers did not use force or hold him down. The grand jury subsequently found no probable cause to believe a crime had been committed in connection with Liao's death.

https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-police-investigating-in-custody-death-at-bowling-alley/37535800
https://fox42kptm.com/news/local/autistic-man-died-after-being-arrested
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-omaha-b0db13dadfe2bde50ae6dab0b0b044f5
https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/omaha-police-investigate-in-custody-death
https://kfab.iheart.com/content/2021-09-10-police-in-custody-death-investigation-in-omaha/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/09/10/omaha-police-report-in-custody-death-following-disturbance-call-bowling-alley/
https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-grand-jury-no-wrongdoing-omaha-police/39411674
https://www.wowt.com/2022/03/11/douglas-county-grand-jury-returns-no-indictments-17-in-custody-deaths/
https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/douglas-county-district-court-grand-jury-concludes-inquiry-regarding-in-custody-deaths

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Domestic disturbance involving a female passenger reportedly attempting to jump from a moving vehicle. At approximately 12:04 p.m., the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received a report involving a man driving a blue Nissan Altima and a woman inside the vehicle attempting to jump out. A deputy located the Altima traveling at excessive speed and attempted to stop it.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 09/08/2021, 35-year-old Leo Alan Ray of Cedar Rapids was killed with his passenger, 35-year-old Stacey Lynn Watts, after Ray crashed into an oncoming dump truck shortly after a Linn County sheriff’s deputy terminated a police pursuit north of Walford.
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At approximately 12:04 p.m., the sheriff’s office received a domestic-disturbance call near 80th Street and Iowa Highway 100. The caller reported a man driving a blue Nissan Altima with a female passenger who was attempting to jump from the vehicle.
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At approximately 12:23 p.m., a Linn County deputy located the Altima traveling south on 80th Street north of E Avenue. The deputy reported that it was traveling at excessive speed and confirmed that the female passenger was still inside. The deputy activated the squad car’s emergency lights and attempted to stop the Altima. Ray continued driving away while the deputy pursued.
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The pursuit continued south on 80th Street to East Cemetery Road in Fairfax and then onto southbound U.S. Highway 151. At approximately 12:27 p.m., about four minutes after initially locating the Altima, the deputy determined that Ray’s driving had become too dangerous and terminated the pursuit near U.S. 151 and Wright Brothers Boulevard.
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Approximately one minute after terminating the pursuit, the deputy saw debris flying into the air farther south on U.S. 151 and proceeded to the crash scene. Ray had lost control of the Altima near the 300 block of U.S. 151, crossed the center line into opposing traffic and collided nearly head-on with a northbound Kenworth dump truck.
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Ray and Watts were both ejected from the Altima and pronounced dead at the scene. The dump-truck driver survived.
.
Available reporting does not provide a measured maximum pursuit speed beyond describing the Altima as traveling at excessive speed when the deputy first encountered it. No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks, roadblock or intentional police-vehicle contact was reported. The deputy had terminated the pursuit approximately one minute before the crash.
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The Iowa State Patrol investigated the fatal collision.
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Public reporting identifies Ray as a 35-year-old Cedar Rapids resident but provides little reliable biographical information about his life outside the circumstances surrounding the fatal encounter.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Linn County sheriff’s deputy who initiated and terminated the pursuit has not been publicly identified.

https://www.thegazette.com/crashes/2-cedar-rapids-residents-killed-in-walford-accident-following-police-chase/
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/09/08/two-killed-walford-crash-collision-happened-shortly-after-deputy-quit-chase-vehicle/
https://apnews.com/article/police-iowa-e4dee22543693c596c1bdb8b0c46d44b
https://www.kimt.com/news/iowa/sheriffs-office-says-two-people-killed-after-police-pursuit/article_03e37ebc-48c3-11ec-b1bb-2f3a1fc68d19.html
https://www.thegazette.com/crashes/2-killed-in-collision-with-dump-truck-near-walford/
https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/two-cedar-rapids-people-identified-in-walford-double-fatality/
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/09/08/fatal-crash-closes-hwy-151-north-walford/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/09/11/iowa-police-chase-ends-with-two-dead/
https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-sheriff-two-killed-in-crash-after-police-pursuit/37526954
https://www.thegazette.com/obituaries/stacey-lynn-watts/

On 09/08/2021, 51-year-old Roberto Andino died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound during an approximately three-hour Chicago Police Department SWAT standoff at a motel in the 6000 block of North Lincoln Avenue. Andino was being sought by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police as a person of interest in the killing of Janine Sznitko.
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Kenosha police had found Sznitko dead inside her home near 75th Street and 29th Avenue on September 7 after she failed to report to work following Labor Day weekend. Her death was subsequently ruled a homicide. Sznitko's family said she had met Andino at a bar and later became afraid of him. According to her sister, Sznitko had told family members that if anything happened to her they should look for Andino.
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Kenosha police issued a public alert seeking Andino as a person of interest. The investigation subsequently led authorities to Chicago, where Andino was located at the Lincoln Avenue motel. Chicago police responded at approximately 1:10 p.m. after Andino barricaded himself inside a room. CPD's SWAT team was called to the scene.
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Police surrounded the motel while Andino remained barricaded inside. Investigators never interviewed him concerning Sznitko's killing. After the standoff continued for approximately three hours, SWAT officers used a key to enter the motel room and found Andino dead from a gunshot wound that police reported was self-inflicted.
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No Chicago police officer was reported to have fired a weapon during the standoff. Chicago police opened a death investigation, while Kenosha police announced that they were no longer searching for Andino because he had been located dead in Chicago.
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The case is included as a suicide under police duress because Andino died by suicide while surrounded by police during an active SWAT barricade and attempted apprehension.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Chicago Police Department SWAT personnel involved in the standoff have not been publicly identified.
.
At the time of Andino's death, CPD was operating under a federal court-enforced consent decree resulting from the Justice Department's finding that the department had engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional force. The Justice Department identified systemic deficiencies in training, de-escalation, supervision and accountability that contributed to unnecessary and avoidable uses of force.
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CPD's SWAT practices were themselves under specific scrutiny in 2021. In February 2021, Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability issued an advisory letter concerning the SWAT team after investigating a search-warrant operation. COPA identified concerns about SWAT record destruction and retention and reporting practices that it said contradicted CPD's own procedures and potentially violated legal obligations.

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/swat-team-responds-to-barricade-situation-at-pulaski-park-hotel
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/lincoln-avenue-motel-standoff/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2021/9/9/22665464/roberto-andino-killed-self-swat-standoff-pulaski-park-hotel-suspect-kenosha-murder-janine-sznitko
https://www.fox6now.com/news/kenosha-suspicious-death-ruled-homicide-suspect-found-dead-in-chicago
https://www.facebook.com/Kenoshapolice/posts/kpd-can-confirm-that-we-are-no-longer-searching-for-our-person-of-interest-rober/10159365772447207/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/8/22663188/swat-team-responds-barricade-situation-pulaski-park-hotel
https://www.chicagocopa.org/press/copa-submits-first-advisory-letter-of-2021-to-chicago-police-department-regarding-special-weapons-tactics-team-swat-following-the-execution-of-a-search-warrant/
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/justice-department-announces-findings-investigation-chicago-police-department

On 09/08/2021, 31-year-old Kevin C. Fehl suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after a short police chase in Fayette County ended when officers deployed a tire-deflation device. Fehl was airlifted to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis and died on 09/09/2021.
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The encounter began at approximately 7:24 p.m. when the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a woman reporting a domestic dispute with her estranged husband, Fehl. Officers reportedly knew Fehl from previous interactions and believed he commonly carried weapons. Based on that information, police decided to use the Connersville Police Department SWAT team rather than make an ordinary response.
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SWAT personnel staged nearby at approximately 8:24 p.m. While officers were preparing to contact Fehl, an officer recognized him driving past the staging location. Officers returned to their vehicles and began pursuing him. Thus, the police chase was initiated in connection with the reported domestic disturbance and planned SWAT apprehension rather than for a traffic violation.
.
The pursuit was brief. At approximately 8:31 p.m., officers reported that Fehl’s vehicle struck a police tire-deflation device. He stopped on West Johnson School Road near County Road 710 West. Officers then began what police described as a high-risk traffic-stop procedure.
.
As officers attempted to take Fehl into custody, they heard a single gunshot from inside his vehicle. Officers approached and found Fehl suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Police reported that no law-enforcement officer fired during either the pursuit or the final encounter.
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Fehl was flown by medical helicopter to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis in critical condition. He died there on 09/09/2021. His obituary confirms his age, full name and date of death. The Marion County Coroner’s Office was expected to conduct an autopsy.
.
Indiana State Police detectives from the Pendleton District assumed the lead investigation into the encounter rather than leaving the investigation solely with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office or Connersville Police Department.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Fayette County and Connersville officers involved in the pursuit, tire-deflation deployment and attempted apprehension have not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.
.

https://wrbiradio.com/connersville-man-suffers-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound-after-pursuit/
https://wrbiradio.com/connersville-man-dies-from-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound-following-pursuit/
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsexaminer/name/kevin-fehl-obituary?id=24051363

On 09/08/2021, an unidentified man died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound after an approximately four-hour police barricade at an apartment on Creekwood Avenue in Bowling Green. Bowling Green police responded after the owner of the apartment complex reported gunfire during an eviction.
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Police stated the property owner was in the process of evicting the tenant when the tenant allegedly fired a shot that traveled through the wall into an adjoining apartment. Reporting did not establish whether anyone was inside the neighboring apartment when the bullet entered it. The property owner was not injured, left the property and called police at approximately 2 p.m.
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Police alleged that another gunshot was fired as officers arrived but said the shot was not directed at the officers. Police surrounded the apartment and spent several hours attempting to communicate and negotiate with the man inside.
.
Shortly before 6 p.m., a Critical Response Team entered the apartment and found the man dead from what authorities described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The available reporting does not describe Bowling Green officers firing during the encounter.
.
Kentucky State Police's Critical Incident Response Team investigated the death. The original database entry identifies the same outside investigative arrangement and records the encounter as occurring from approximately 2 p.m. until the tactical entry at approximately 6 p.m.
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The man's identity was not released in the contemporaneous coverage, and a renewed search for later reporting, coroner information, investigative releases and other records did not establish a sufficiently reliable public identification to replace Name Withheld.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Bowling Green officers and Critical Response Team personnel involved in the barricade and entry have not been publicly identified.
.
A federal civil-rights case filed shortly before this incident documented a separate August 16, 2020 Bowling Green Police Department shooting. Joseph David Compton alleged BGPD Officers Kyle Laing and Michael Jonkers shot him in the back while he was driving. During initial federal-court review in August 2021, the court dismissed several claims but permitted Compton an opportunity to amend his complaint to pursue an individual-capacity claim against Jonkers. These were allegations in civil litigation, not findings that either officer committed misconduct, and neither officer has been connected to the Creekwood Avenue incident.
.
Kentucky State Police's account of the Compton shooting stated that Bowling Green officers were investigating a theft when a driver allegedly drove toward officers and police fired. KSP, rather than BGPD, conducted the outside investigation, demonstrating that KSP was also being used to investigate Bowling Green police critical incidents during this period.

https://www.kentuckystatepolice.ky.gov/news/p9-8-2021
https://www.wbko.com/2021/09/08/apparent-armed-standoff-bowling-green/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kywdce/1%3A2021cv00104/122106/6/
https://www.kentuckystatepolice.ky.gov/news/ksp-investigates-officer-involved-shooting-in-warren-county

On 09/08/2021, Gilroy Police Department Officer Catalina Fraide shot and killed 40-year-old David Lopez outside the U.S. Post Office at Fourth and Eigleberry streets. Initial news reports described police responding at approximately 2:30 a.m. to an intoxicated man, but the later Santa Clara County District Attorney investigation established a substantially more detailed sequence: Lopez was wanted for an attempted murder committed one week earlier and had contacted police under the pretense that he wanted to surrender.
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According to the DA's investigation, Lopez had been identified as the person who allegedly shot another man during an August 31, 2021 confrontation. Police had obtained a warrant for his arrest for attempted murder. Lopez subsequently contacted Gilroy police and arranged to meet an officer at the post office, purportedly to surrender.
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Officer Catalina Fraide drove to the post office to meet Lopez. According to the DA's reconstruction, as Fraide pulled her patrol vehicle into the location, Lopez fired two shots toward her. Both missed Fraide, but investigators found that one bullet struck and lodged in the passenger-side window frame of her patrol vehicle.
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Fraide exited her patrol vehicle and returned fire. Lopez's first handgun then malfunctioned. Investigators concluded that Lopez discarded that weapon and retrieved a second handgun. He moved behind a large concrete pillar and allegedly attempted to fire the second gun toward Fraide, but it did not discharge because it was unloaded.
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According to the DA, Lopez then retreated behind the pillar and appeared to Fraide to be attempting to reload the second firearm. Fraide fired again, striking Lopez once in the head. Police provided medical aid and Lopez was transported to a trauma center, where he died.
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Contemporaneous security footage from the surrounding area captured the sound of multiple gunshots. Early reporting described six gunshots audible within approximately one minute. Gilroy police later released video of the encounter in October 2021; the footage showed Lopez firing toward Fraide's arriving patrol vehicle and Fraide returning fire.
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The shooting was investigated by the Gilroy Police Department Investigations Bureau and Internal Affairs and separately reviewed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office. The DA ultimately concluded that Fraide reasonably believed Lopez presented an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury and that her use of deadly force was lawful. Fraide was not criminally charged.
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The later DA investigation materially changes the original public description of the encounter. What was initially reported as officers responding to an intoxicated man was actually a prearranged meeting with a man wanted for attempted murder who had represented that he intended to surrender. The DA concluded instead that Lopez used the arranged surrender to draw an officer to the post office and then fired at her as she arrived.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Catalina Fraide was the Gilroy police officer who shot and killed David Lopez. The initial September 2021 reporting did not identify her, but the subsequent Santa Clara County District Attorney investigation publicly identified Fraide and reconstructed her actions from physical evidence, firearms evidence, video and other investigative material.
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Fraide fired the only police gunfire identified in the DA's final account. Investigators determined that Lopez possessed two firearms during the confrontation; his first weapon fired and subsequently malfunctioned, while the second was unloaded and did not fire. The DA concluded that Fraide's fatal shot was legally justified based on what she perceived as Lopez attempting to reload after already firing toward her.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/09/gilroy-police-shoot-kill-man-after-officer-involved-shooting/
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/south-bay/man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-gilroy/2658266/
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-gilroy/
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/gilroy-police-fatal-officer-involved-shooting/
https://gilroydispatch.com/gilroy-police-investigate-officer-involved-shooting/
https://kioncentralcoast.com/news/top-stories/2021/09/08/gilroy-police-investigating-officer-involved-shooting/
https://da.santaclaracounty.gov/news/officer-incident-report/fatal-shooting-david-lopez

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Domestic disturbance involving Stacey Lynn Watts reportedly attempting to jump from a moving vehicle. Shortly after noon, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a blue Nissan Altima with a male driver and a female passenger who was reportedly trying to jump from the vehicle. A deputy later located the Altima traveling at excessive speed with Watts still inside and attempted to stop it.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 09/08/2021, 35-year-old Stacey Lynn Watts of Cedar Rapids was killed while riding as a passenger in a Nissan Altima pursued by a Linn County sheriff’s deputy north of Walford. Watts was the woman at the center of the original call for police assistance: authorities said she was reportedly attempting to jump from the moving car during a domestic disturbance.
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Shortly after noon, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received the domestic-disturbance report near 80th Street and Iowa Highway 100. The caller reported a man driving a blue Nissan Altima with a female passenger reportedly trying to jump from the vehicle.
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A deputy located the Altima traveling south on 80th Street and observed that Watts remained inside. The deputy activated the squad car’s emergency lights and attempted to stop the vehicle. The driver continued driving away while the deputy pursued south on 80th Street, onto East Cemetery Road in Fairfax and then toward southbound U.S. Highway 151.
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The deputy determined that the Altima was being driven too recklessly to safely continue the pursuit and terminated the chase near U.S. Highway 151 and Wright Brothers Boulevard. No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks, roadblock or intentional police-vehicle contact was reported. Available reporting does not provide the Altima’s measured maximum speed.
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Approximately one minute after terminating the pursuit, the deputy saw debris flying into the air farther south. The deputy proceeded toward the debris and discovered that the Altima had gone out of control near the 300 block of U.S. Highway 151, crossed into the opposing lane and collided nearly head-on with a northbound Kenworth dump truck.
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Watts and the driver were ejected from the Altima and pronounced dead at the scene. The dump-truck driver was not injured. The Iowa State Patrol investigated the fatal collision.
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Watts had turned 35 only three days before her death. She was born on 09/05/1986 in Le Mars, Iowa, and lived in Cedar Rapids. Her family included her parents, birth mother, seven siblings and numerous nieces, nephews and extended relatives. She had previously endured the deaths of two infant children, Haley Stevens and Alex Stevens. Her family held a memorial service and Celebration of Life at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids on 09/24/2021.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Linn County sheriff’s deputy who initiated and subsequently terminated the pursuit has not been publicly identified.

https://www.thegazette.com/crashes/2-cedar-rapids-residents-killed-in-walford-accident-following-police-chase/
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/09/08/two-killed-walford-crash-collision-happened-shortly-after-deputy-quit-chase-vehicle/
https://apnews.com/article/police-iowa-e4dee22543693c596c1bdb8b0c46d44b
https://www.kimt.com/news/iowa/sheriffs-office-says-two-people-killed-after-police-pursuit/article_03e37ebc-48c3-11ec-b1bb-2f3a1fc68d19.html
https://www.thegazette.com/crashes/2-killed-in-collision-with-dump-truck-near-walford/
https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/two-cedar-rapids-people-identified-in-walford-double-fatality/
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/09/08/fatal-crash-closes-hwy-151-north-walford/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/09/11/iowa-police-chase-ends-with-two-dead/
https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-sheriff-two-killed-in-crash-after-police-pursuit/37526954
https://www.thegazette.com/obituaries/stacey-lynn-watts/

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Not disclosed. Wisconsin State Patrol pursued Brown on eastbound I-94, but State Patrol, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and Milwaukee police did not publicly disclose why troopers initially attempted to stop his vehicle. Contemporary reporting specifically noted that investigators had not said why the pursuit began.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 09/08/2021, 26-year-old Akiem Brown of Milwaukee was killed when the vehicle he was driving crashed following a Wisconsin State Patrol pursuit on I-94 in Milwaukee. Two passengers in Brown’s vehicle were injured.
.
The pursuit began on I-94 and continued eastbound. Available public reporting does not disclose the location where State Patrol first encountered Brown, the reason troopers attempted to stop him, the pursuit’s duration or distance, or the maximum speeds reached by Brown or pursuing troopers. No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks, roadblock or intentional police-vehicle contact was publicly reported.
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At approximately 7:25 p.m., the pursuit reached the area of South 70th Street and West Kearney Street near I-94. Police dispatch audio recorded an officer reporting that a car had attempted to get away from him and requesting additional squads and medical assistance at 70th and Kearney.
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Brown’s vehicle was involved in a three-vehicle collision. Brown suffered fatal injuries. Two passengers riding with him were seriously injured but survived; Milwaukee police subsequently described their injuries as non-life-threatening. The publicly available reporting does not provide a complete crash reconstruction establishing the sequence in which the three vehicles collided.
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The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner identified Brown the following day as the 26-year-old driver who died in the crash.
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Brown’s family gathered for a vigil at the crash scene. A family member described Brown as someone who was always there for his family and friends and called him his “best little brother.” His relatives acknowledged that Brown had made a mistake but said they wanted to know the full truth about what happened during the pursuit.
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Brown had previously attended Milwaukee King High School and played varsity football there.
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At the time of Brown’s death, Wisconsin State Patrol had already conducted 131 pursuits during 2021, compared with 147 during all of 2020. State Patrol told TMJ4 that Brown’s pursuit was its first pursuit during September.
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The Milwaukee Police Department took responsibility for investigating the fatal crash. Brown’s family continued to seek answers about the circumstances preceding his death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Wisconsin State Patrol trooper or troopers who initiated and participated in the pursuit have not been publicly identified.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/1-killed-2-seriously-injured-in-crash-on-i-94-after-chase-with-wisconsin-state-patrol-sheriffs-office-says
https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/neighbors-react-after-deadly-police-chase-crash-ends-near-i-94
https://www.fox6now.com/news/pursuit-crash-closes-i-94-70th
https://www.wisn.com/article/pursuit-ends-in-fatal-crash/37520858

On 09/07/2021, an Angelina County sheriff’s deputy and a Lufkin Police Department officer shot 43-year-old Richard “Ricky” Woods while attempting to arrest him on a felony warrant in the parking lot of Bigs, formerly Cherry’s Grocery, at 2701 N. Raguet Street in Lufkin. Woods was transported to a hospital and died shortly afterward.
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The warrant stemmed from an alleged 08/27/2021 assault on Woods’ former girlfriend. Police said they were called to a Lufkin hospital after the woman reported that Woods had cut her vehicle’s battery cables and strangled her. She told police she lost consciousness three times. Officers documented bleeding, bruising and red marks on her face and neck and a swollen area on her forehead. A felony warrant was subsequently issued for Woods.
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On September 7, a Lufkin police officer and Angelina County deputy received information that Woods would be at Bigs. At approximately 4:15 p.m., they saw him walk into the store and waited for him to return to his vehicle before attempting the arrest.
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According to the joint police and sheriff’s office account, Woods pulled a handgun when the officers confronted him in the parking lot. The Angelina County deputy fired first, striking Woods and causing him to fall.
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Police alleged that after falling, Woods remained on the ground but began reaching and crawling toward his handgun. The Lufkin officer approached carrying a patrol rifle and then fired at Woods. Police said the second shooting occurred because Woods was continuing to reach for the gun while the deputy and civilians were nearby in the busy gas-station parking lot.
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The deputy and Lufkin officer immediately provided medical aid, including applying a chest seal and tourniquets. EMS transported Woods to a Lufkin hospital, where he died.
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The Lufkin officer had previous direct contact with Woods because he was Woods’ designated sex-offender accountability officer. In that role, the officer conducted monthly face-to-face contacts with Woods to monitor his registration status and compliance.
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Lufkin police and the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office released a portion of the Lufkin officer’s body-camera recording after the shooting. The agencies said the release was intended to show the encounter publicly while the investigation continued.
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The Texas Rangers assumed the outside investigation because personnel from both the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office and Lufkin Police Department had fired. Both shooters were placed on administrative leave pending completion of the investigation and presentation to a grand jury.
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This was the second fatal police shooting in Lufkin on September 7. Earlier that same day, a Lufkin police officer shot and killed 52-year-old Anthony Cravo during a separate encounter. Texas Rangers investigated both shootings.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Angelina County deputy who first shot Woods and the Lufkin police officer who subsequently shot Woods with a patrol rifle were not named in the contemporary reports located for this update. The agencies initially stated that the officers’ names would not be released until they had provided their investigative statements. Later publicly searchable reporting located through 2026 does not establish their identities sufficiently to place names in the Officer(s) field.
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The Lufkin officer was not a stranger to Woods: he was Woods’ sex-offender accountability officer and had been conducting monthly face-to-face monitoring contacts with him before the fatal encounter.
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AGENCY RECORD
The Woods shooting was one of two separate fatal law-enforcement shootings in Lufkin on the same day. Texas Rangers investigated both rather than allowing the involved local agencies to conduct the criminal investigations themselves.

https://www.kltv.com/2021/09/07/lufkin-police-assisting-with-multi-agency-investigation-former-cherrys-grocery/
https://www.ktre.com/2021/09/07/lufkin-police-assisting-with-multi-agency-investigation-former-cherrys-grocery/
https://www.ktre.com/2021/09/08/authorities-man-shot-lufkin-store-had-choked-woman-with-battery-cables/
https://kicks105.com/lpdacso-give-more-details-on-tuesdays-fatal-shooting-at-bigs/

On 09/07/2021, a Lufkin Police Department officer shot and killed 52-year-old Anthony Cravo of Cypress during an armed-robbery investigation at a property containing two mobile homes in the 900 block of North Chestnut Street. Police released a portion of the officer's body-camera recording shortly after the shooting, and the Texas Rangers conducted the outside criminal investigation.
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The encounter began shortly after midnight when officers found a man outside the mobile homes bleeding from a head injury. The man and a woman with him reported that an armed man had taken their car keys, wallet and cellphone and struck the male victim in the head with the butt of a long gun. They initially told police the armed man had fled on foot.
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The injured man directed an officer to the second mobile home on the property, where police believed witnesses or the armed man might be located. The front door was open but covered by a sheet. The officer approached and knocked on the open doorway with a flashlight.
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Body-camera footage recorded a person inside saying, “Come in.” The officer instead asked the person to come outside and speak with him. Investigators subsequently determined that the voice inviting the officer inside belonged to one of the victims rather than Cravo.
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Cravo then emerged through the doorway carrying a rifle. According to Lufkin police, Cravo raised the rifle toward the uniformed officer. The officer immediately fired approximately two rounds, striking Cravo. The released body-camera footage captured the approach, verbal exchange and gunfire.
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Cravo was transported by ambulance to a helicopter landing site and then flown to an out-of-area hospital, where he died. Police described Cravo as apparently unknown to both the responding officers and the two people involved in the reported robbery. One of those victims had been severely beaten and was also flown to a Houston hospital.
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The Lufkin Police Department conducted a criminal investigation into the alleged robbery and assault and an internal administrative investigation into whether department policies were followed. The Texas Rangers separately investigated the officer's use of deadly force.
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Cravo's killing was the first of two fatal police shootings in Lufkin on September 7, 2021. Later that day, Lufkin police and an Angelina County sheriff's deputy shot and killed Richard Dee Woods while attempting to arrest him on a felony warrant at a convenience store. The Texas Rangers investigated both shootings.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Lufkin police officer who shot Anthony Cravo has not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.

https://kicks105.com/lufkin-police-report-suspect-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting/ 

On 09/07/2021, 36-year-old Brandon Michael Watts died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long police standoff and hostage situation at the Siegel Select Tucson hotel. Police alleged Watts had earlier shot and killed his girlfriend, 39-year-old Flor Del Mar Hernandez Tapia, and wounded a 19-year-old woman before leaving the shooting scene.
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Tucson police were called shortly before 2 a.m. to a residence in the 3700 block of East 23rd Street for a reported domestic dispute. Officers found Hernandez Tapia dead from gunshot wounds and the 19-year-old woman wounded. The surviving woman was transported to Banner-University Medical Center and was expected to survive. Police identified Watts as the person suspected of both shootings.
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Police records showed that Watts had been arrested on domestic-violence charges in January 2021 and arrested again for assault in March. He was scheduled to enter pleas in those cases the week following the September shootings.
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Police said Watts left the East 23rd Street residence and went to the Siegel Select Tucson hotel near East Irvington Road and South Hotel Drive. There, police alleged, he entered a room occupied by a woman and her four children and held the family hostage.
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The Tucson Police Department Hostage Negotiations Unit and Pima County Regional SWAT Team surrounded the room and spent hours attempting to negotiate with Watts. The standoff lasted much of the day. Negotiators eventually secured the release of the woman and all four children. The children were physically unharmed; the woman was treated for injuries.
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After the hostages were safely removed, Watts remained barricaded alone inside the hotel room. At approximately 5:40 p.m., SWAT personnel entered and found him dead from what police reported was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No police gunfire was reported in Watts' death.
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The sequence from the initial domestic shooting call shortly before 2 a.m. through the SWAT entry at approximately 5:40 p.m. made this an extended police operation lasting much of September 7. Watts died while surrounded by police during an active attempt to apprehend him.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Tucson Police Department negotiators and Pima County Regional SWAT personnel involved in the hostage standoff have not been publicly identified.

https://www.kold.com/2021/09/07/update-man-dies-self-inflicted-gunshot-after-hours-long-standoff-police-say/
https://patch.com/arizona/tucson/suspect-tucson-hostage-situation-shootings-dead
https://www.crainandsons.com/obituary/brandon-watts
https://www.kold.com/2021/09/09/stand-off-that-started-with-domestic-dispute-sheds-light-rising-domestic-violence/

On 09/07/2021, four Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed 32-year-old Josue Arias outside a home at 2175 Indigo Drive in the Greenbriar neighborhood of unincorporated Clearwater. The encounter began at approximately 3:38 a.m. when a woman called 911 and reported that her former boyfriend, Arias, was outside her home with a handgun.
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Police said Arias entered the residence before deputies arrived. The woman and her current boyfriend retreated into separate rooms. Authorities alleged Arias threatened the residents and made statements indicating that he intended violence. The woman was armed with her own handgun and eventually escaped from the house; police said she immediately put her weapon down when she encountered deputies.
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The woman left her cellphone inside the residence with the 911 connection still open. This allowed dispatchers and police to continue hearing what was occurring inside. Clearwater Police Chief Daniel Slaughter later said deputies stopped calling commands into the residence after realizing that their commands appeared to be agitating Arias.
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Arias later appeared at the front door with the woman's boyfriend and allegedly held a handgun to the man's head. Police said Arias subsequently released him, allowing the man to escape, and Arias retreated into the residence.
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Police said Arias made statements during the barricade that he was not returning to prison, that his life was over and that he was going to die. Deputies attempted to negotiate with him.
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Arias eventually came out of the house again carrying the handgun. According to the official account, he moved around the patio and then entered the yard while apparently looking toward deputies' positions. Four Pinellas County deputies opened fire and killed him. Contemporary reporting did not establish that Arias fired at deputies before they shot him.
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The entire police operation lasted more than an hour. Clearwater police participated at the scene, but the fatal gunfire came from Pinellas County sheriff's deputies.
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The Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Task Force investigated the shooting. On 09/24/2021, the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office announced that its review was complete and determined that the four deputies' use of deadly force constituted justifiable homicide. No deputies were criminally charged.
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The later prosecutorial finding is important because the initial account left unresolved whether Arias actually fired his handgun at police. The justification for the deputies' gunfire instead rested on the circumstances confronting them after Arias allegedly held a gun to a hostage's head, released the hostage, reemerged armed and moved through the yard while appearing to search for deputies' positions.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Four Pinellas County sheriff's deputies fired at Josue Arias. The reporting and later prosecutor coverage located for this update do not publicly identify the four shooters by name.
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AGENCY RECORD
The shooting was investigated through Pinellas County's Use of Deadly Force Task Force rather than solely through an internal sheriff's-office review. The task force investigation was subsequently reviewed by the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office, which ruled the shooting justified approximately 17 days after Arias was killed.

https://www.fox13news.com/news/shots-fired-reported-in-clearwater-neighborhood-deputies-say
https://www.fox13news.com/news/pinellas-deputies-justified-in-fatal-shooting-in-clearwater-neighborhood
https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinellas/2021/09/27/pinellas-deputies-justified-in-fatal-shooting-of-armed-man-prosecutor-says/
https://www.tampabay28.com/news/region-pinellas/1-killed-in-deputy-involved-shooting-in-clearwater
https://www.wusf.org/courts-law/2021-09-07/pinellas-county-deputy-shooting-being-investigated

On 09/07/2021, 35-year-old Joshua Thornton died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head during a traffic stop on Kingsland Court in Fruit Cove. St. Johns County Sheriff’s Deputy Jylton Tusha also fired one shot, striking Thornton in the shoulder, but the medical examiner determined Tusha's wound was nonfatal and Thornton died from his own gunshot.
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Shortly before 4:30 p.m., Tusha attempted to conduct a traffic stop involving Thornton's white work truck. Thornton drove into the driveway of a residence on Kingsland Court. The homeowner later told reporters that she knew Thornton because she had previously hired him to perform tree work, but he was not scheduled to work at her home that day and she did not know why he entered her driveway. The truck displayed markings for Joshua Tree Service.
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Sheriff Robert Hardwick said that when Tusha approached Thornton's vehicle, Thornton fired one gunshot and Tusha responded by firing one round. Initial reporting therefore described Thornton as having been killed during an exchange of gunfire with the deputy.
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The medical evidence subsequently changed that account. The St. Johns County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Thornton had shot himself in the head and ruled his death a suicide. Tusha's bullet struck Thornton in the shoulder and produced a non-life-threatening wound.
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The initial sheriff's briefing did not establish whether Thornton fired his gun while inside or outside the truck or specify the type of firearm involved. The publicly available reporting also did not disclose the specific traffic violation or other reason Tusha initially attempted to stop Thornton.
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Tusha was not wearing a body camera. St. Johns County Sheriff's Office deputies had not yet been equipped department-wide with body-worn cameras in September 2021. The agency subsequently began issuing body cameras in March 2023 and completed its initial rollout by mid-April.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Jylton Tusha was the St. Johns County sheriff's deputy who fired at Joshua Thornton. The Sheriff's Office reported that this was Tusha's first shooting as a deputy. No additional verified prior fatal shooting or substantive misconduct involving Tusha was located for this update.
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AGENCY RECORD
At the time Thornton died, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office had not equipped its deputies with body-worn cameras. The agency had completed a body-camera pilot program but did not begin its department-wide rollout until March 2023, approximately 18 months after Thornton's death. SJSO ultimately issued cameras to 343 deputies during the initial rollout.

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/st-johns-county/deputy-involved-shooting-fruit-cove-source-says/4KEAY43SWJCDRBEQKBHTPV275Y/
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/investigates/investigates-st-johns-county-sheriffs-office-deputies-now-wearing-body-cameras/SXFPV7WIONDXJHT3QQSDYESJ24/

On 09/07/2021, Sacramento Police Department Officer Chase Cunningham, Officer Jeffrey Dahl and Sgt. Jeremiah Jarvis shot and killed 53-year-old Derek Scott Pearson after an approximately nine-hour SWAT barricade at his home in the 3700 block of Redding Avenue, across from Hiram W. Johnson High School. A later Sacramento County District Attorney review publicly identified all three shooting officers and concluded their use of deadly force was lawful.
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The encounter began at approximately 7:44 p.m. on September 6 when Sacramento Officer Pavel Stefoglo was approached by a person near Fourth and Redding avenues who reported that Pearson had threatened to kill him. The person told Stefoglo that Pearson had ordered him to bring his dog to Pearson's house and call a local radio station and threatened to kill him if he did not comply. Separately, shortly before 8:15 p.m., another person requested a welfare check after receiving what police described as suspicious, erratic and disturbing messages from Pearson.
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Patrol officers went to Pearson's residence and attempted to speak with him through the front security door. Released body-camera footage recorded Pearson telling police to leave, saying that people were trying to kill him and stating that during a previous encounter police had tried to kill him. Pearson closed the interior door. Officers looking through a window then reported seeing him with a rifle and withdrew from the immediate area.
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Police established a perimeter, evacuated nearby residences and brought in the department's SWAT and Crisis Negotiation teams. Crisis negotiators made more than 70 telephone calls to Pearson and intermittently communicated with him throughout the night.
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According to police and the later DA investigation, Pearson repeatedly fired from inside the house during the barricade. Officers were positioned in armored vehicles around the residence. Police reported that Pearson fired toward officers on multiple occasions, striking armored police vehicles. Other rounds struck unoccupied vehicles and buildings at Hiram W. Johnson High School across the street.
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At approximately 5:10 a.m. on September 7, Pearson emerged from the residence carrying a rifle. Police alleged that he raised and pointed the rifle toward officers. Cunningham, Dahl and Jarvis then fired at Pearson, striking him.
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Police immediately deployed a drone to visually check Pearson and the area before officers approached. Officers then entered, provided medical aid and recovered the rifle near Pearson. Sacramento Fire Department personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. Police subsequently recovered multiple additional firearms from the residence.
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The public evidentiary record is unusually extensive. On 09/18/2021, Sacramento police released a narrated video, seven body-camera recordings, three audio files and drone footage. On 10/05/2021, the department made a much larger secondary release containing 97 body-camera recordings, four in-car camera recordings, 20 dispatch recordings, a radio transmission, four surveillance videos, 71 Crisis Negotiation Team recordings and 103 drone recordings.
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Police records subsequently released under California transparency law show that officers also learned during the barricade that Pearson was subject to a temporary civil-harassment restraining order issued on 09/02/2021. The order prohibited him from contacting the protected person and from possessing firearms. Police records stated that the protected person lived across the street from Pearson.
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The Sacramento Police Department's Homicide Unit and Internal Affairs Division investigated the shooting, with a Force Investigation Team examining policy, tactics and training. The city's Office of Public Safety Accountability and Sacramento County District Attorney's Office provided oversight.
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The Sacramento County District Attorney conducted a separate criminal review using police reports, video and audio recordings, dispatch records, witness interviews, photographs, diagrams, evidence logs, forensic laboratory reports and the coroner's final report. On 07/06/2023, the DA concluded that Cunningham, Dahl and Jarvis lawfully used deadly force and filed no criminal charges against them.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
Chase Cunningham, Jeffrey Dahl and Jeremiah Jarvis were the three Sacramento police officers who fired at Derek Pearson. Their identities were omitted from much of the original 2021 news coverage but were subsequently disclosed in the Sacramento County District Attorney's formal review.
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The DA concluded that all three fired after Pearson emerged armed with a rifle following hours of gunfire from the residence and pointed the rifle toward officers. The DA determined that the officers reasonably believed Pearson presented an imminent threat and that their gunfire was lawful.
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The department's extensive public-record release includes records specifically associated with case 2021-254750, allowing the encounter to be examined through body-camera footage, patrol-car video, surveillance recordings, dispatch traffic, negotiation recordings and drone footage rather than solely through the officers' written accounts.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article254108063.html
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-police-shooting-redding-avenue/37545039
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/man-killed-officer-involved-shooting-redding-avenue/103-0c2b7e8a-7a3a-4f1f-9e2a-8f6c3e1b5c4a
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2021-09-07/sacramento-police-kill-armed-man-after-hourslong-standoff
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article254047858.html
https://www.kcra.com/article/suspect-accused-shooting-sacramento-police-hourslong-standoff/37499086
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-police-body-camera-footage-suspect-killed-hourslong-standoff-school/37650675
https://www.cbsnews.com/gooddaysacramento/news/tahoe-park-ois-suspect-killed-video-released/
https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/police/police-transparency/incidents-of-public-interest/officer-involved-shootings/september-6--2021
https://apps.sacpd.org/Releases/liveview.aspx?reference=20210918-068
https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/content/dam/portal/police/Transparency/SB-1421-Documents/2021/Documents-from-2021-254750.pdf
https://www.sacda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SPD-Pearson-OIS-2021-CG-TT-MB-TH-revised.pdf
https://www.sacda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/PEARSON-DEREK.pdf
 

n 09/07/2021, North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Steven Mayer shot and killed 45-year-old Craig Knutson of Billings, Montana, after a 21-mile police chase on Interstate 94 in Morton County. The encounter began with a citizen report of a reckless driver traveling eastbound on I-94. Morton County sheriff’s deputies initially pursued Knutson, and Mayer joined the pursuit.
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Police attempted to stop Knutson approximately seven miles east of Hebron. Knutson continued driving east at approximately 70–75 mph. The pursuit therefore originated specifically from the reckless-driving report rather than from a warrant, stolen vehicle or unrelated criminal investigation.
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During the pursuit, Knutson himself called 911 and remained in communication with a dispatcher. According to the later North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation records and released 911 recording, Knutson told the dispatcher he had a gun and intended to shoot himself. He repeatedly asked that police back off, said he would not stop for officers and said he had no intention of harming anyone else.
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A Morton County deputy deployed spike strips, deflating the van’s left-front tire. Knutson nevertheless continued east for approximately another three miles, eventually slowing to about 10 mph. Mayer then used his patrol vehicle to perform a PIT maneuver, spinning Knutson’s van sideways and bringing it to a stop near mile marker 139.
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Mayer exited his patrol vehicle and repeatedly ordered Knutson to show his hands. Dash-camera/audio evidence released after the investigation recorded Mayer giving commands and then alerting the three Morton County deputies that Knutson had a gun.
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The subsequent BCI investigation established more detail than authorities initially released. Knutson remained in the vehicle. Mayer reported seeing the handgun and fired one round from his handgun at approximately the same time a Morton County deputy fired one less-lethal round from a shotgun. Mayer’s gunshot struck and killed Knutson.
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A revolver was recovered from Knutson’s vehicle. Early Highway Patrol briefings specifically declined to say whether Knutson had fired the gun, whether he had been pointing it at police or even whether he was holding it when Mayer shot him. Later released records and video formed the basis for the prosecutor’s conclusion that Mayer reasonably perceived an immediate armed threat.
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No officer was wearing a body camera. Mayer’s own dash camera did not visually capture the shooting because his patrol vehicle had been positioned against Knutson’s van during the PIT maneuver. Dash-camera evidence and audio from the police vehicles, however, documented portions of the pursuit and final encounter and were subsequently publicly released along with investigative records.
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The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted the outside investigation. BCI turned its findings over to the Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office for an independent criminal review.
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In October 2021, the Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office concluded that Mayer’s shooting of Knutson was justified as defense of himself and others and declined criminal charges. North Dakota Highway Patrol conducted its own administrative review and separately concluded that Mayer acted within department policy. He was returned to duty.
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The Highway Patrol then released video, 911 audio, BCI investigative material, Morton County Sheriff’s Office records and the prosecutor’s decision. The evidence established that Knutson had explicitly told the 911 dispatcher during the pursuit that he possessed a gun and was suicidal while also stating that he did not intend to harm police.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Steven Mayer was the North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper who shot and killed Craig Knutson. Mayer fired one handgun round during the final encounter. A Morton County deputy simultaneously fired a less-lethal shotgun round but was not identified as firing lethal ammunition.
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Knutson’s killing was notable within the agency because it was the North Dakota Highway Patrol’s first fatal shooting involving a trooper since 2010.
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The Highway Patrol reported after the shooting that Mayer had no disciplinary history. A broader search of available court records and later reporting did not establish another fatal police shooting by Mayer before Knutson’s death. Mayer remained with the North Dakota Highway Patrol afterward and continued serving with the agency’s K-9 program.
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AGENCY RECORD
North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, rather than the North Dakota Highway Patrol or Morton County Sheriff’s Office, conducted the criminal investigation because personnel from both agencies participated in the pursuit and Mayer fired the fatal shot. The case was then independently reviewed for possible criminal charges by the Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office.
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The investigation produced an unusually substantial public evidentiary record for the encounter. After Mayer was cleared, authorities released dash-camera material, Knutson’s 911 call, BCI investigative reports, Morton County Sheriff’s Office records and the prosecutor’s written review, permitting the sequence preceding the shooting to be compared with the agencies’ initial public account.

https://www.kvrr.com/2021/10/06/watch-trooper-justified-in-morton-county-shooting-dashcam-video-released/
https://apnews.com/article/shootings-north-dakota-montana-billings-1a5b91466a9042f36745bb4475881ea9
https://apnews.com/article/billings-north-dakota-montana-shootings-5336a91c0e76ebd0365ab7b21e7b5bd0
https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/update-authorities-release-name-of-north-dakota-trooper-who-fatally-shot-montana-man
https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/video-shows-what-led-up-to-north-dakota-troopers-fatal-shooting-of-chase-suspect
https://news.prairiepublic.org/local-news/2021-10-06/highway-patrol-trooper-was-justified-in-shooting-after-a-reckless-driver-pursuit
https://www.nd.gov/ndhp/sites/www/files/documents/News/2021%20Media%20Release/October-2021-Media-Release/2021.10.05.MortonCounty.NDHPOfficerInvolvedShooting.UPDATE.pdf

On 09/07/2021, an unidentified 31-year-old man from Lower Brule died after collapsing while handcuffed in Sioux Falls Police Department custody in the 1000 block of South Dakota Avenue. Officers and emergency medical personnel attempted resuscitation, and the man was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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The incident began at approximately 4 p.m. when police received reports of a gunshot in the area. A woman separately called 911 and reported that a man armed with a handgun was banging on her door and then forced his way into her residence. The woman told police the man was behaving erratically and appeared to be hallucinating.
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Police alleged that before officers arrived, the man had been with 28-year-old Dewey Damien Tuttle and that one of the two men fired a handgun. Police subsequently arrested Tuttle for possession of stolen property. Two handguns were recovered during the investigation, one outside in the area and another inside the woman's residence.
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According to police, officers encountered the 31-year-old man outside the residence and described him as making unusual or erratic movements. Police said they persuaded him to leave the handgun inside the residence and come outside. Officers then detained and handcuffed him.
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The man was alive and ambulatory after being handcuffed. According to the police account, officers were escorting him toward a patrol vehicle when he suddenly collapsed. Officers and responding emergency personnel began medical treatment before transporting him to the hospital, where he died.
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The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation assumed responsibility for investigating the death rather than leaving the criminal investigation solely with the Sioux Falls Police Department. DCI operates under the South Dakota Attorney General and is the state investigative agency used to review deaths and shootings involving local police.
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The contemporaneous public account does not describe police shooting, Tasering or otherwise using a weapon against the man. His death occurred after police physically detained and handcuffed him and while officers were moving him to a police vehicle.
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Despite the original announcement that his identity was being withheld pending family notification, a renewed search of subsequent DCI material, news archives and other publicly indexed records did not establish a reliable public identification for the 31-year-old man. The database entry should therefore remain Name Withheld rather than assigning an unverified identity.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Sioux Falls police officers who detained and handcuffed the man have not been publicly identified.
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AGENCY RECORD
The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation was called in to investigate the death because it occurred while the man was in Sioux Falls Police Department custody. Contemporary reporting specifically identified DCI, rather than Sioux Falls police, as the agency handling the death investigation.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dci-rules-sioux-falls-police-201927976.html
https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/2021/09/08/dci-investigating-after-sioux-falls-suspect-collapses-custody-dies/
https://www.brookingsradio.com/lower-brule-man-dies-while-in-custody-of-sioux-falls-police/
https://mitchellnow.com/news/236632-lower-brule-man-dies-during-sioux-falls-arrest/

On 09/07/2021, an Albuquerque Police Department SWAT officer shot and killed 46-year-old Cimmeron Albert Christy after an hours-long armed barricade at Christy’s home at 23 Short Street in Moriarty. Torrance County sheriff’s deputies and New Mexico State Police initially responded, with NMSP crisis negotiators and tactical officers and the APD SWAT team subsequently joining the operation.
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The incident began at approximately 9:54 p.m. on September 6, when Torrance County deputies and New Mexico State Police responded to a domestic-violence call at Christy’s residence. According to the subsequent NMSP investigation, Christy allegedly fired multiple shots from inside the residence toward responding officers. Police withdrew to a safer position and requested tactical and negotiation assistance.
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Christy’s wife remained inside the residence during the initial portion of the barricade. Before the NMSP Tactical Team arrived, Torrance County deputies established communication with Christy and negotiated her release. She left the residence and was secured in a police vehicle. Negotiations were then transferred to the New Mexico State Police Crisis Negotiations Team.
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The NMSP Tactical Team arrived in an armored tactical vehicle and positioned it southeast of the house. According to NMSP, Christy subsequently came out on the northwest side of the residence and fired multiple rounds toward police. He then remained armed while negotiators continued attempting to persuade him to surrender.
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NMSP reported that Christy also made threats to shoot his neighbors. An Albuquerque Police Department SWAT officer then fired at Christy, striking him. The Office of the Medical Investigator pronounced Christy dead at the scene. The state investigation identified the fatal gunfire specifically as coming from one APD SWAT officer; the available account does not report Torrance County deputies or NMSP personnel firing the fatal shots.
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A nearby resident independently described hearing intermittent gunfire during the prolonged encounter, sometimes several shots at a time, continuing until approximately 1 a.m. The resident also reported receiving a call from State Police directing her to shelter inside her home. KOB reported that the confrontation lasted nearly three hours.
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New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau conducted the outside investigation of the APD shooting. NMSP stated that its investigators were responsible for collecting evidence and conducting interviews and that investigative findings would be provided to the district attorney. NMSP specifically stated that it acts as a fact-finding agency in police shootings and that the district attorney, rather than NMSP, determines whether an officer’s shooting is legally justified.
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NMSP initially said the APD SWAT officer’s name would be withheld until interviews were completed. Its September 22 update still did not identify the shooter and instead directed requests for the officer’s identity to APD. A renewed search of later indexed reporting, prosecutorial material and records concerning Christy’s death did not produce a sufficiently verified public identification of the shooter.
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Christy’s obituary identifies his date of death as September 7, 2021, although the police operation began late on September 6. It also establishes that Christy worked for the New Mexico Department of Transportation for 18 years and most recently worked as an Engineering Technician 3 bridge inspector.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Albuquerque Police Department SWAT officer who shot and killed Cimmeron Christy has not been publicly identified in the records located for this update. Because the shooter’s identity remains unverified, an individual officer-background investigation cannot reliably be attached to this case.
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AGENCY RECORD
Christy was killed while Albuquerque Police Department remained subject to a federal court-enforceable reform agreement resulting from a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into APD’s use of force. In 2014, DOJ found reasonable cause to conclude that APD engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional excessive force, including deadly force.
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DOJ specifically found that APD officers too frequently used deadly force against people presenting minimal threats, sometimes in encounters where officers’ own conduct heightened the danger. DOJ also found excessive force in encounters involving people experiencing mental-health crises and identified systemic deficiencies in APD policy, training, supervision, accountability and force investigations.
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Those findings produced the 2014 court-enforceable settlement requiring extensive reforms to APD’s use-of-force practices, training, supervision, investigations, crisis intervention and accountability. That federal oversight was still active when an APD SWAT officer killed Christy in September 2021.
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The Christy shooting was therefore not an isolated APD fatality during the federal-reform period. Later reporting examining the department’s record identified Christy among at least 54 people killed by APD between the beginning of the federal settlement era in 2014 and the end of 2023.
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https://www.dps.nm.gov/blog/2021/09/22/udpate-officer-involved-shooting-involving-the-albuquerque-police-department-in-torrance-county/
https://www.dps.nm.gov/blog/2021/09/07/officer-involved-shooting-involving-the-albuquerque-police-department-in-torrance-county/
https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/nmsp-provides-update-on-officer-involved-shooting-in-moriarty/
https://www.kob.com/archive/apd-officer-shoots-kills-suspect-in-moriarty/
https://www.kob.com/archive/nmsp-releases-new-details-on-deadly-sept-6-officer-involved-shooting-in-moriarty/
https://www.krwg.org/regional/2021-09-22/update-fatal-shooting-involving-the-albuquerque-police-department-in-torrance-county
https://www.kunm.org/kunm-news-update/2021-09-07/tues-new-mexico-police-probe-officer-involved-fatal-shooting-more
https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/summary-department-justices-findings-albuquerque-police-department-investigation
https://www.justice.gov/usao/nm/press-releases/2014/Oct/416-%202014-10-31_agreement_reached.html
https://searchlightnm.org/can-the-albuquerque-police-department-ever-be-reformed/

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Expired vehicle registration. Garland Police Officer Ryan Kelly stopped a black Honda Accord because its registration sticker was expired. While Kelly was checking the driver's information, police said officers observed evidence of narcotics inside the vehicle. Before officers could investigate further, the driver drove away at high speed and Kelly pursued.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 09/06/2021, 28-year-old Karla Marbel Rico was killed when a Honda Accord being pursued by Garland police ran a red light and crashed into her Toyota at West Miller Road and South Garland Avenue. Rico's 10-year-old son Matthew was riding with her and was critically injured. The family's dog, Apollo, was also killed.
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Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Officer Ryan Kelly stopped the Honda near Shiloh Road and Northwest Highway for an expired registration sticker. Three people were inside. During the stop, police reported seeing evidence of narcotics in the vehicle. Kelly was verifying the driver's information when the driver suddenly drove away.
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Kelly pursued in his patrol vehicle, and other Garland officers joined the pursuit. Dash-camera and body-camera recordings later introduced at trial documented the chase. Kelly can be heard reporting that the Honda was exceeding 90 mph, running red lights and crossing into opposing traffic lanes. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office later reported that the Honda averaged approximately 99 mph during the pursuit.
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The Honda traveled approximately three miles north on Garland Avenue. Police initially reported that officers attempting to catch it lost sight of the vehicle. Other officers working an unrelated call near Axe Drive and Garland Avenue then saw it pass at high speed.
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As the Honda approached the red light at West Miller Road and South Garland Avenue, another Garland officer positioned near the intersection saw it approaching at high speed. That officer activated the patrol vehicle's emergency lights and siren in an attempt to warn motorists at the intersection.
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The Honda entered the intersection against the red light and struck Rico's silver Toyota as she traveled west on Miller Road. The impact killed Rico. The Honda then struck a black Honda CR-V that had been stopped at the red light. The CR-V driver suffered cuts and other minor injuries.
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Rico's 10-year-old son Matthew suffered critical injuries and was hospitalized. The family's dog, Apollo, died in the collision. The three people riding in the pursued Honda were also hospitalized.
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No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks or intentional police-vehicle contact immediately preceding the collision was identified in the court record. The later criminal proceedings produced substantial video evidence of the pursuit, including Kelly's body-camera and dashboard-camera recordings and surveillance-camera recordings from businesses along the route.
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Rico was born on 10/01/1992 in the State of Mexico, Mexico. She was married to Florencio and was the mother of Matthew. Her parents were Carlos and Maribel, and she had four sisters, Tania, Lizbeth, Vivian and Fatima. Her family buried her at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Rowlett after a funeral Mass at Good Shepherd Catholic Church.
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The pursued driver was convicted of murder. In September 2022, a Dallas County jury found him guilty after approximately 20 minutes of deliberation and sentenced him to life in prison. The prosecution was the first trial handled by the Dallas County District Attorney's newly created Vehicular Crimes Unit.
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The driver appealed his murder conviction, challenging the admission of several surveillance-camera recordings used at trial. On 02/20/2024, the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals rejected those challenges, modified an unrelated portion of the judgment concerning enhancement findings, and otherwise affirmed the murder conviction. The appellate court emphasized that properly admitted police body-camera and dashboard-camera recordings depicted the pursuit in greater detail than the challenged surveillance recordings.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Garland Police Officer Ryan Kelly initiated the traffic stop and pursued after the driver fled. Kelly's body-camera and dashboard-camera recordings became important evidence in the subsequent murder prosecution. No verified prior fatal shooting, fatal pursuit, excessive-force finding, criminal charge, or significant disciplinary history involving Kelly was identified in the public records reviewed for this reconstruction.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/crime/texas-woman-killed-son-injured-after-chase-suspect-runs-red-light-in-garland-police-say/287-ac07608a-8c9e-4031-aef2-bf5630799d2e
https://www.garlandpolice.com/m/newsflash/home/detail/2286
https://www.garlandtx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10736/P-2021-09-61-Charges-Filed-Against-Man-who-Caused-Fatality-Crash-and-Injury-to-Child
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2021/09/07/man-faces-charges-after-garland-police-say-he-caused-fatal-crash-while-fleeing-officers/
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/mother-killed-son-critically-injured-suspect-red-light-garland-texas/
https://www.univision.com/local/dallas-kuvn/esto-se-sabe-de-la-muerte-de-karla-rico-accidente-bobby-lee-murphy-garland
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/fifth-court-of-appeals/2024/05-22-00950-cr.html

On 09/06/2021, Hardy County Sheriff’s Office deputies shot and killed 35-year-old Christopher C. Zenittini at 477 Highland Springs Terrace in Old Fields while deputies were attempting to locate and arrest a fugitive. West Virginia State Police subsequently conducted the investigation of the fatal shooting.
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The Sheriff’s Office said deputies went to the Highland Springs Terrace residence because they had information that a fugitive was there. While attempting to locate that person, deputies encountered Zenittini. Authorities reported that Zenittini himself had failed to appear in court for an arrest in Hardy County. The available official account does not make clear whether Zenittini was the fugitive deputies originally went to the residence to locate or whether deputies discovered his outstanding matter only after encountering him.
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The Sheriff’s Office alleged that Zenittini was armed and exchanged gunfire with deputies. Deputies shot Zenittini, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The contemporaneous account does not disclose which deputy fired, how many deputies fired, the number of shots fired by police or Zenittini, where Zenittini was positioned when the gunfire began, who fired first, or the sequence of the exchange.
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West Virginia State Police Crime Scene Team personnel responded and West Virginia State Police assumed responsibility for investigating the shooting. Moorefield Police Department and Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office personnel also assisted at the scene. The fatal gunfire, however, was attributed to Hardy County sheriff’s deputies.
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The case remains unusually thin in the public record. The initial September 7 report identified Zenittini, his age, the location, the outstanding court matter and the allegation that he exchanged gunfire with deputies, but a renewed search did not locate a subsequent publicly indexed West Virginia State Police investigative report, prosecutor decision, grand-jury disposition, body-camera release, shooting-officer identification, autopsy findings or detailed reconstruction of the encounter.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Hardy County sheriff’s deputies who shot and killed Christopher Zenittini have not been publicly identified in the records located for this update.

https://www.whsv.com/2021/09/07/wva-state-police-investigates-officer-involved-shooting/

On 09/06/2021, Tyler Stow, 22, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an approximately three-hour armed standoff with police on Olive Street in Mount Vernon. The standoff began at approximately 2:30 a.m. and ended around 5:00 a.m.

Police Chief David Hubert said the encounter followed an argument between Stow and his girlfriend. Police responded and attempted repeatedly to communicate with Stow while the confrontation continued.

According to Hubert, Stow became increasingly agitated during the standoff and fired multiple shots into the air. Police summoned a Special Response Unit after the gunfire. Witness Scottie Wilson described numerous officers arriving in tactical equipment and surrounding Stow’s truck with weapons drawn.

Approximately 15 law-enforcement personnel participated in the response, including officers from the Mount Vernon Police Department, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and Monett Police Department. Police continued attempts to communicate with Stow and resolve the confrontation without further gunfire.

At approximately 5:00 a.m., Stow fatally shot himself. No police officer fired the fatal shot. His death is classified as suicide under police duress because he died by suicide while surrounded by law enforcement during an active armed standoff.

OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The individual officers involved in the standoff were not publicly identified in the available reporting.

https://www.ky3.com/2021/09/06/police-standoff-lasting-3-hours-ends-with-suspect-killing-himself-mount-vernon-mo/

On 09/06/2021, Lane County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Zachary LaFoca shot and killed 59-year-old Robert Gutierrez outside a residence in the 37000 block of Camp Creek Road east of Springfield. The Lane County District Attorney subsequently released a detailed review identifying LaFoca as the shooter and finding his use of deadly force legally justified.
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Shortly before 10 p.m., a family member called 911 and reported that Gutierrez was intoxicated, armed with a .22-caliber handgun and becoming increasingly aggressive. The caller reported fearing for her life and the lives of other family members and said it was unsafe for those inside to leave. Gutierrez had allegedly struck a family member and fired the handgun into the ground two or three times.
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Before deputies arrived, a deputy spoke by telephone with a family member and developed probable cause to arrest Gutierrez for Menacing, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Physical Harassment. The DA's later review also documented statements by Gutierrez alluding to “suicide by cop” and a threatening text message sent to a family member.
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Deputies arrived at approximately 10:20 p.m. and positioned themselves near armored police vehicles. According to the DA's reconstruction, Gutierrez appeared outside carrying the .22-caliber handgun. Police repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapon. Gutierrez instead yelled profanities and raised the handgun toward deputies positioned around the armored vehicles.
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Deputies initially did not fire. Gutierrez lowered the handgun, and police continued ordering him to put it down. According to the DA, Gutierrez then raised the handgun toward police a second time. LaFoca, positioned in an armored vehicle and armed with an AR-15 rifle, fired multiple rounds at Gutierrez.
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Gutierrez was struck several times and fell. Deputies approached and began medical treatment, but he died at the scene. Investigators recovered the .22-caliber handgun near him.
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The shooting occurred extremely quickly after deputies reached the property. Contemporary reporting described Gutierrez as being shot approximately one minute after deputies arrived. The DA's later chronology similarly establishes that the fatal confrontation occurred almost immediately after police made direct contact with him rather than after an extended standoff or prolonged negotiation.
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No body-camera footage exists because Lane County Sheriff's Office deputies were not equipped with body-worn cameras. Investigators also found no surveillance recording of the shooting at the property. The criminal review therefore relied on witness accounts, officer statements, physical and forensic evidence and other investigative material rather than video of the fatal encounter.
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The Lane County Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team assumed the investigation. Under Oregon's Senate Bill 111 process, IDFIT operates independently of the agency whose officer used deadly force and is composed of investigators from multiple law-enforcement agencies. The completed investigation was submitted to Lane County District Attorney Patricia Perlow for review.
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On 09/23/2021, Perlow concluded that LaFoca's shooting of Gutierrez was legally justified. Her determination rested principally on Gutierrez allegedly pointing the handgun toward deputies twice, with LaFoca firing after the second instance. No criminal charges were filed against LaFoca.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Zachary LaFoca was the sole Lane County sheriff's deputy identified as firing lethal gunfire at Robert Gutierrez. LaFoca fired an AR-15 from a position associated with an armored police vehicle after Gutierrez allegedly raised his .22-caliber handgun toward deputies for the second time.
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The September 2021 shooting was investigated by the Lane County Interagency Deadly Force Investigation Team rather than solely by LaFoca's own department. The Lane County District Attorney independently reviewed the investigative file and concluded LaFoca acted lawfully in defense of himself and the other deputies.
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https://nbc16.com/news/local/deputy-shoots-kills-man-while-responding-to-home-outside-springfield
https://nbc16.com/news/local/da-man-shot-killed-a-minute-after-deputies-arrived-on-scene-use-of-force-justified
https://www.klcc.org/crime-law-justice/2021-09-07/man-threatening-family-members-shot-and-killed-by-lane-co-sheriffs-deputies
https://www.klcc.org/crime-law-justice/2021-09-27/d-a-deems-fatal-sept-6th-shooting-justified
https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3585797/File/District%20Attorney/Officer%20Involved%20Shooting%20September%206.pdf
https://www.lanecountyor.gov/government/county_departments/district_attorney_s_office/divisions/criminal_law/police_deadly_use_of_force_investigations

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Speeding. A Yorkville Police Department officer observed Nathaniel Harvey Sr. riding his motorcycle 18 mph above the posted speed limit on Oriskany Boulevard near the Yorkville–Whitesboro boundary. The officer made a U-turn, caught up with Harvey and activated the patrol vehicle's emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 09/05/2021, 45-year-old Nathaniel Harvey Sr. was killed when he crashed his motorcycle on Oriskany Boulevard in the Village of Whitesboro while a Yorkville Police Department officer was pursuing him after attempting to stop him for speeding.
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The encounter began on Oriskany Boulevard near the boundary between Yorkville and Whitesboro. A later New York State review of police pursuits established that the Yorkville officer observed Harvey traveling 18 mph above the posted speed limit. The officer made a U-turn, caught up with Harvey and activated the patrol vehicle's emergency lights.
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Harvey initially slowed after the officer activated the emergency lights. He then accelerated and continued driving west into Whitesboro while the Yorkville officer pursued him. The later state account indicates that the officer was unable to keep pace with Harvey's motorcycle.
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Harvey subsequently lost control of the motorcycle on Oriskany Boulevard between Clinton Street and Westmoreland Street and struck a utility pole. He was thrown from the motorcycle onto a roadway running parallel to Oriskany Boulevard and died from his injuries.
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No police vehicle was reported to have struck Harvey or his motorcycle. No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks, roadblock or other vehicle-intervention tactic was reported. The available records do not provide Harvey's maximum speed, the police vehicle's maximum speed, the precise duration or distance of the pursuit, or the distance separating the officer and Harvey immediately before the crash.
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The involvement of neighboring police agencies initially created confusion about responsibility for the pursuit. Whitesboro Police Department subsequently issued a statement specifically stating that none of its officers participated in either the attempted traffic stop or the pursuit. Whitesboro officers assisted at the crash scene and secured it. The pursuit was conducted by the Yorkville Police Department.
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Whitesboro police also stated that their department was not conducting the investigation into the cause of Harvey's crash. The death received further state review and was subsequently included in New York's examination of police vehicle pursuits.
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Harvey was 45 and was identified as a Black man. Available public reporting about the fatal pursuit provides little additional reliable biographical information about his family, occupation, interests or life outside the encounter.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Yorkville Police Department officer who attempted to stop and pursued Nathaniel Harvey Sr. has not been publicly identified.

https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/2021/09/05/whitesboro-police-pursuit-fatal-crash/8289049002/
https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2021/09/motorcyclist-killed-after-fleeing-police-in-whitesboro.html
https://wibx950.com/whitesboro-police-release-statement-on-fatal-labor-day-weekend-motorcycle-crash/
https://fatalencounters.org/view/person-csv/csv/?pagenum=62

On 09/05/2021, a 63-year-old man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an armed standoff with Pennsylvania State Police in the 1100 block of Shoemaker Street in Nanty Glo, Cambria County. The encounter ended after an extended police response at the residence. The man's name was withheld from the contemporary public report.

https://www.tribdem.com/news/troopers-man-dies-of-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound-during-standoff/article_d0f35926-10a4-11ec-8a73-939b42cee099.html

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REASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED:
At 1:41 a.m., Eden Prairie Police responded to a 911 report of multiple vehicles street racing near Flying Cloud Drive and Crosstown Circle. Police said several vehicles drove away as officers arrived and officers initiated a pursuit of the vehicle in which 19-year-old Marina Emms was riding as a passenger.
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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 09/05/2021, Marina was a passenger in a vehicle driven by 19-year-old Devlyn Voss when Eden Prairie Police pursued the vehicle from Eden Prairie into Minnetonka. The pursuit continued along Highway 62 and onto Baker Road. Police described it as a short pursuit but did not publicly specify the speeds reached, exact duration or pursuing officer's speed.
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Police said officers lost sight of the vehicle shortly after it passed beneath Interstate 494. Officers subsequently found it crashed near a residence in the 5300 block of Baker Road. Devlyn died at the scene. Marina survived the initial crash and was transported to a hospital, but died later that Sunday. No other vehicles were involved.
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A nearby resident said he heard police sirens coming down Baker Road and approximately five seconds later heard the crash. As many as 100 people subsequently gathered at the crash location to mourn the two 19-year-olds.
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Marina had graduated from Woodbury High School in 2020. She had been a varsity gymnast, a varsity cheerleader for the Woodbury Royals football team and a photographer. She loved horses, dogs, fashion and the outdoors and was particularly attached to her dog Winston. Her family remembered her for her magnetic personality, kindness and smile.
.
Marina's mother, Laura Emms, emphasized that her daughter was an innocent passenger. Her parents described Marina as a special young woman who drew people toward her. Laura said she hoped Marina's death would cause young people involved with street racing to reconsider the danger, while also pleading that people remember her daughter rather than allowing her to become simply another fatality associated with street racing.
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Friends described Marina and Devlyn as “gentle souls.” Marina left behind her parents, Thomas and Laura Emms, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Her family held a celebration of her life on 09/15/2021 before she was laid to rest at Roselawn Cemetery.
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DISPOSITION:
The Minnesota State Patrol led the crash reconstruction investigation with assistance from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. No Eden Prairie Police officer was criminally charged for an officer's role in initiating or continuing the pursuit.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Eden Prairie Police Department did not publicly identify the officer or officers who initiated and participated in the fatal pursuit.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/19-year-old-victims-identified-in-fatal-west-metro-crash/
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/families-id-19-year-olds-killed-in-crash-during-police-pursuit-from-eden-prairie-to-minnetonka
https://www.edenprairiemn.gov/Home/Components/News/News/10353/282?arch=1
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/1-dead-1-hospitalized-after-vehicle-fleeing-street-race-crashes-in-minnetonka/
https://www.fox9.com/news/man-killed-in-crash-after-eden-prairie-police-respond-to-reports-of-street-racers
https://www.muellerbies.com/obituaries/marinaemms

.
REASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED:
At 1:41 a.m., Eden Prairie Police responded to a 911 report that multiple vehicles were street racing near Flying Cloud Drive and Crosstown Circle. Police said several vehicles drove away as officers arrived and officers initiated a pursuit of the vehicle driven by 19-year-old Devlyn Voss.
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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 09/05/2021, Eden Prairie Police pursued Voss from Eden Prairie into Minnetonka. The pursuit traveled along Highway 62 and onto Baker Road. Police described it as a “short pursuit,” but the publicly released account does not specify the pursuing officer's speed, Voss's speed, the precise duration of the pursuit, or the distance between the police vehicle and Voss's vehicle.
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Police said officers lost sight of Voss's vehicle shortly after it passed beneath Interstate 494 on Baker Road. A short time later, officers discovered the vehicle crashed near a residential property in the 5300 block of Baker Road. The crash involved no other vehicle. Voss died at the scene, while his passenger and friend, 19-year-old Marina Emms, was critically injured and transported to a hospital, where she died later that day.
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A resident near the crash scene reported hearing police sirens traveling down Baker Road and said that approximately five seconds later he heard a large impact. The account provides important context to the police statement that officers had lost sight of Voss before the crash.
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Devlyn had turned 19 only six weeks before his death. His family remembered him for his kind and caring personality, contagious smile and sense of humor. He loved cars, hockey, baseball and Lego, and his obituary specifically noted his enthusiasm for learning his trade. He was deeply connected to his parents, grandparents, extended family, friends and girlfriend.
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Friends defended Devlyn after his death against people who blamed him for the crash. Kendal Pooler said people making those judgments did not know him personally and described Devlyn as someone who was consistently there for other people. Friends who knew both Devlyn and Marina described them as “gentle souls.”
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As many as 100 people gathered at the crash site the following day to mourn Devlyn and Marina. Devlyn's family released a statement expressing gratitude for the support both families were receiving and emphasizing that they were grieving the loss of two young people rather than assigning blame while processing their deaths.
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DISPOSITION:
The Minnesota State Patrol led the crash reconstruction investigation with assistance from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. No Eden Prairie Police officer was criminally charged for an officer's role in initiating or continuing the pursuit.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Eden Prairie Police Department did not publicly identify the officer or officers who initiated and participated in the fatal pursuit.

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/19-year-old-victims-identified-in-fatal-west-metro-crash/
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/families-id-19-year-olds-killed-in-crash-during-police-pursuit-from-eden-prairie-to-minnetonka
https://www.edenprairiemn.gov/Home/Components/News/News/10353/282?arch=1
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/1-dead-1-hospitalized-after-vehicle-fleeing-street-race-crashes-in-minnetonka/
https://www.fox9.com/news/man-killed-in-crash-after-eden-prairie-police-respond-to-reports-of-street-racers
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/st-paul-mn/devlyn-voss-10340208
 

On 09/05/2021, 41-year-old Frederick A. Thomas was shot and killed by Miami Township Police Department Detective Scott Miller and Officers William “Drew” Olinger and Austin Snowden after police responded to a domestic disturbance at Thomas's home in the 8900 block of Fox Glove Way.

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Police had already responded to Thomas's home earlier that evening for another domestic dispute. Police Chief Charlie Stiegelmeyer described the earlier encounter as much calmer. Officers took Thomas to a relative's home, but the relative subsequently brought him back to his residence.

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Regional Dispatch records show another domestic-violence call began at approximately 8:26 p.m. A woman could be heard yelling for someone to get off her and her baby and saying she was fighting with her husband before the call disconnected. Miami Township police reported being dispatched at approximately 9:08 p.m. At 9:13 p.m., another caller reported hearing two or three gunshots in the area.

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According to police, Miller, Olinger and Snowden arrived and heard Thomas in the garage making threats about having a shootout. Police said they were concerned about a woman and child believed to be inside the residence and went to the front door.

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Police alleged that Thomas opened the front door, threatened to shoot the officers and fired at them. Miller, Olinger and Snowden all fired their weapons at Thomas. Thomas went back inside and closed the door, and the officers retreated to cover.

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Dispatch records show shots were reported at approximately 9:20 p.m. and police requested the Montgomery County Regional SWAT Team about a minute later. Police deployed stop sticks behind a vehicle at the residence. Dispatch records also referenced use of a drone and tear gas during the barricade.

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SWAT negotiators attempted more than a dozen times to contact Thomas by telephone and text message without receiving a response. Police did not initially know that Thomas had been wounded during the exchange of gunfire.

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At approximately 1:24 a.m. on 09/06/2021, SWAT entered the residence and found Thomas unresponsive in a hallway near the front door. Police attempted medical aid, but he was pronounced dead at the residence.

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Investigators recovered two handguns inside the residence. Police said one was found near Thomas and had been fired three times. Police said Thomas's fatal wound was sustained during the exchange of gunfire with Miller, Olinger and Snowden and was not self-inflicted.
.

OFFICER BACKGROUND:

Detective Scott Miller was one of the three officers who shot Thomas. Miller had previously been the subject of a Miami Township Police Department internal investigation in 2018. An Ohio appellate-court decision concerning fellow officer Douglas Hesler states that Miller and Hesler were summoned by Capt. John Magill on March 8, 2018 and informed that they were subjects of an internal investigation. The court record establishes that Hesler received a five-day suspension arising from that investigation, but does not establish a comparable disciplinary finding against Miller, so no discipline should be attributed to Miller from that proceeding.

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Miller was promoted from detective to sergeant in August 2022 and remained with Miami Township Police Department after the Thomas shooting. The department subsequently listed him as a patrol supervisor.

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Austin Snowden was one of the three officers who shot Thomas. Miami Township subsequently awarded Snowden its Medal of Valor for the September 2021 shooting. Snowden left Miami Township and joined the Lebanon Police Department in February 2022.

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On 07/12/2022, while working for Lebanon police, Snowden responded as mutual aid to another police shooting in Clearcreek Township after Officer Eric Ney was shot in the head. Ohio BCI later interviewed Snowden as a responding witness in that investigation; Snowden was not the officer who fired the fatal shots in that case.

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Miami Township Police Department has a significant documented civil-rights history unrelated to the Thomas shooting. Former Miami Township Detective Matthew Scott Moore was found civilly liable for constitutional violations that contributed to the wrongful conviction of Roger Dean Gillispie, who spent more than 20 years imprisoned for sexual assaults he did not commit.
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Gillispie's case involved suppressed exculpatory evidence and improper eyewitness-identification procedures. After his release and exoneration, a federal jury in 2022 awarded him $45 million in damages against Moore. A federal court subsequently ruled that Miami Township was responsible for indemnifying Moore for the judgment.
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In May 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the judgment and Miami Township's obligation to indemnify Moore. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently declined the township's request to review the case, leaving the $45 million judgment in place.
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The department also had a documented internal disciplinary controversy involving Detective Douglas Hesler. Miami Township fired Hesler in 2019 following internal disciplinary proceedings. The department alleged policy violations and racially insensitive comments toward a female officer. An arbitrator overturned the termination and ordered Hesler reinstated; Miami Township unsuccessfully challenged that decision in court. The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling in 2021, and Hesler was reinstated with back pay.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/ohio-bci-investigating-officer-involved-shooting-in-miami-twp/RGU72EH7QBFAFJWZYTUBNCX7TU/

https://wcti12.com/news/nation-world/watch-police-hold-press-conference-on-officer-involved-shooting-in-ohio

https://www.wdtn.com/news/local-news/shots-fired-in-miamisburg-swat-is-on-scene/

https://www.daytondailynews.com/crime/watch-miami-twp-police-release-body-camera-from-deadly-shooting/QBO2PBX3N5D2BMWI3JKI2NWRJA/

https://www.daytondailynews.com/crime/grand-jury-declines-to-indict-3-miami-twp-officers-in-deadly-shooting/MTCZGM25XZFCXIYTZNTA5JEL3I/

https://www.whio.com/news/local/3-officers-involved-deadly-miami-twp-police-shooting-not-indicted/CRI54JYATFGEJAWODE33BKS5H4/

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/crt-app-ohi-sec-dis-mon-cou/2133090.html

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca6/23-3999/23-3999-2025-05-02.html

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/miami-twp-ordered-to-cover-45-million-judgment-in-wrongful-conviction-case/CVOISFD2EJAPFIWWV3N3D5BAXM/

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/fired-reinstated-police-detective-among-miami-twps-highest-paid-employees-payroll-project/MW3QFV77WFFGTK2X33A6KDLZPM/

On 09/03/2021, a fatal domestic shooting developed into an approximately 20-hour SWAT standoff between 30-year-old Jacob Andrew LeGrande and the Unified Police Department at a home near 3900 South and Highland Drive in Millcreek. Police later determined that LeGrande had allegedly shot and killed his father, 53-year-old Timothy Andrew LeGrande, and Timothy's sister, 54-year-old Bonne Rachelle Brady, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the police operation.

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The incident was initially reported to police at approximately 5:38 p.m. Brady had gone to the home with her son after Timothy LeGrande called his sister and invited them over. Brady's son escaped from the house after the shooting and ran directly to the nearby Unified Police Department Millcreek substation to report that shots had been fired and an elderly woman remained inside.

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Early police statements incorrectly suggested that family members had gathered to stage an intervention concerning Jacob LeGrande's possible drug use and mental health problems. UPD Sgt. Melody Cutler subsequently corrected that account. Investigators determined that Timothy had simply invited his sister over to spend time with him. Police said Jacob had never been formally diagnosed with a mental illness, although investigators were examining possible drug use. The circumstances nevertheless developed into a mental health crisis followed by homicide, armed confrontation with police and suicide.

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Police later determined that Brady had been shot shortly before her son alerted officers. Investigators believed Timothy was also shot before police arrived, although they had not established precisely when he was killed.

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Responding officers heard additional gunfire after arriving. Police learned that an elderly woman was still inside the house with LeGrande and entered the residence while shots were being fired. Officers rescued the woman and removed her from the house. Police initially reported that she had been injured but later said she was physically uninjured.

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After the rescue, police established a containment perimeter and brought in SWAT and crisis negotiators. LeGrande initially communicated with negotiators for several hours but eventually stopped responding. Police continued attempts to contact him through the night and into Saturday.

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Unified Police received extensive mutual aid. West Valley City, Salt Lake City and South Valley SWAT teams participated, and the Unified Fire Authority bomb squad provided equipment and logistical support. At one point approximately 70 law-enforcement officers were involved in the operation. Residents around 3900 South and Highland Drive were ordered to shelter in place.

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Police said LeGrande had multiple firearms and a large quantity of ammunition and continued firing during the standoff. Sheriff Rosie Rivera said police did not return fire at any point. LeGrande also fired at police tactical equipment. At least one robot sent into the residence by Unified Fire Authority and a police drone were reportedly shot and disabled.

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Negotiations and containment continued for approximately 20 hours. On the afternoon of 09/04/2021, police sent another drone into the residence and observed three bodies. Officers subsequently entered and found LeGrande, Timothy LeGrande and Brady dead from gunshot wounds.

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Investigators concluded that Jacob LeGrande was responsible for the deaths of Timothy LeGrande and Brady and that Jacob died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His obituary gives his death date as 09/04/2021. Police were unable in the immediate aftermath to determine exactly when during the prolonged standoff Jacob shot himself.

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UPD continued investigating the motive after the standoff. The department's initial intervention theory was specifically withdrawn after detectives interviewed witnesses. Police subsequently described the motive as unknown. The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner was tasked with determining whether drugs were present in LeGrande's system.

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Jacob was Timothy Andrew LeGrande's son. Jacob was born August 9, 1991, in Elko, Nevada, to Timothy LeGrande and Sharon Thomas.

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No police officer fired a weapon during the approximately 20-hour operation. Accordingly, there was no police shooting to submit for a prosecutorial justification determination and no shooting officer to investigate for prior uses of deadly force in this case.

.

OFFICER BACKGROUND:

The individual Unified Police officers who initially entered the house, rescued the elderly woman, negotiated with Jacob LeGrande and participated in the SWAT operation were not identified in the reporting reviewed for this update.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50234706/police-identify-3-dead-after-overnight-swat-situation-at-millcreek

https://kutv.com/news/local/police-identify-3-dead-after-swat-standoff-in-millcreek

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/3-dead-possibly-including-suspect-after-swat-standoff-in-millcreek

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/09/03/police-standoff-underway/

https://gephardtdaily.com/local/update-officials-still-searching-for-motive-after-millcreek-shooting-standoff/

https://gephardtdaily.com/local/police-name-3-killed-in-millcreek-shooting-standoff/

https://www.ksl.com/article/50320306

https://www.wiscombememorial.com/obituaries/jacob-legrande/obituary

On 09/04/2021, 25-year-old Spencer Allan Clayborn was shot and killed by Lakewood Police Department Sgt. Jason Catlett after police responded to multiple 911 calls reporting a man firing numerous rounds at an apartment complex in the 7300 block of 150th Street SW in Lakewood.

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South Sound 911 began receiving calls at 8:28 p.m. Dispatchers reported that they could hear gunshots in the background while callers described a man firing numerous rounds in the apartment-complex parking lot. Lakewood police and officers from neighboring agencies responded.

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Officers began arriving at approximately 8:36 p.m. At 8:39 p.m., a Lakewood officer radioed that Clayborn was allegedly shooting at police. Moments later, dispatch was advised that police had shot him. Clayborn was pronounced dead at the scene.

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The Pierce County Medical Examiner identified Clayborn and determined that he died from a gunshot wound to the neck. His manner of death was homicide.

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The Pierce County Force Investigation Team conducted the independent investigation. The Pierce County Prosecutor's Office was notified immediately, and an investigator from that office responded to the scene. Catlett was placed on administrative leave.

.

PCFIT publicly identified Catlett as the officer who shot Clayborn on 09/16/2021. Despite weekly public updates, PCFIT released virtually no additional substantive information about the shooting while the investigation remained open.

.

PCFIT completed its investigation in March 2022 and submitted the case to the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office for review on 03/17/2022. The final PCFIT update, issued 03/24/2022, stated that the independent investigation was complete and that no further updates would be issued.

.

OFFICER BACKGROUND:

Jason Catlett had previously participated in another fatal Lakewood police shooting. On 01/13/2019, Catlett, John Babcock and Jonathon Beard shot and killed 43-year-old Keith Lawrence Harvey at the Terrace Apartments in Lakewood during a mental health crisis.

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Harvey himself had called 911 and reported an armed stranger inside his apartment. Police subsequently determined that Harvey had apparently described himself to dispatchers. Police said Harvey approached officers holding a kitchen knife. Catlett fired four rounds; Babcock and Beard fired another 11 rounds between them. Harvey was killed. The Pierce County Prosecutor's Office subsequently ruled that Catlett, Babcock and Beard acted justifiably.

.

The Clayborn shooting was therefore Catlett's second fatal police shooting in less than three years.

.

Catlett later became the subject of sustained Lakewood Police Department misconduct investigations concerning racist and anti-LGBTQ comments about fellow officers. Lakewood originally demoted Catlett in 2024. Following arbitration, the demotion was reduced to a 10-day suspension, Catlett was restored to his sergeant position and received back pay.

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Records reported by The News Tribune showed that Catlett and Detective Noah Dier were investigated over inappropriate comments concerning colleagues' race and sexual identity. Catlett had also served as president of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild. Lakewood's 2024 annual reporting showed seven misconduct allegations and two internal investigations that year; all seven allegations were sustained.

https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/suspect-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-lakewood

https://www.piercecountywa.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=5327&ARC=9213

https://www.piercecountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/107974/Sept-16-PCFIT-7300-blk-of-150th-ST-SW

https://www.piercecountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/113115/March-24-2022-PCFIT-7300-blk-of-150th-ST-SW

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article254318018.html

https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/lakewood-police-release-names-of-officers-who-killed-man-after-he-charged-at-them-with-knife

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/one-man-died-in-officer-involved-shooting-sunday-after-charging-officers-with-a-knife-police-said/903777357/

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article304879871.html

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/two-lakewood-police-officers-suspended-offensive-comments-toward-colleagues/YGNTR6K4PBCUZJMOPBAO6VDJGU/

On 09/04/2021, 39-year-old Jorge Calleres died after Fresno Police Department officers used a Taser, took him to the ground, handcuffed and restrained him during an arrest in the 1700 block of South Karen Avenue. Calleres developed breathing and other medical problems while restrained and was transported to Community Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m.

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The encounter followed an alleged series of violent incidents earlier that day. Fresno County authorities alleged Calleres shot his former girlfriend in the face at her residence near Golden State Boulevard and Dinuba Avenue. Police further alleged that he then took a vehicle containing a mother and her four children and drove toward Fresno. The family escaped after one of the children reportedly pretended to have an asthma attack and Calleres stopped and ordered them from the vehicle.

.

Approximately 90 minutes after the shooting, Fresno police received reports of a man behaving erratically, yelling and knocking on doors near Peach and Butler avenues. Officers located Calleres in the 1700 block of South Karen Avenue. Police Chief Paco Balderrama said Calleres was incoherent and appeared possibly under the influence of drugs.

.

Police said Calleres resisted officers' attempts to detain him. Officers took him to the ground and used a Taser. Because of his size, officers connected three sets of handcuffs behind his back to restrain him. Contemporary reporting described Calleres as approximately six feet tall and 300 pounds.

.

According to Balderrama, Calleres initially remained conscious, talking and breathing after being restrained and attempted to kick officers. Police then noticed that he was developing medical problems, including difficulty breathing. He was transported to Community Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m.

.

Fresno Police Department classified the death as an in-custody death because Calleres developed medical distress while handcuffed. The department's Homicide Unit opened an investigation into the death, including the officers' use of the Taser. The officers involved in the arrest were placed on leave.

.

The officers who used force against Calleres were not publicly identified in the contemporary reports located for this update. Without their identities, their prior shootings, Taser incidents, complaints, discipline and use-of-force histories cannot be reliably attributed.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article254054178.html

https://abc30.com/fresno-police-in-custody-death-taser/11034788/

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/man-dies-after-being-tased-by-fresno-police/

https://abc30.com/fresno-police-selma-domestic-violence-man-injured-woman-county-sheriffs-deputies/10999669/

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/man-who-died-in-fresno-police-custody-identified-by-officials/

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article254027518.html

On 09/04/2021, at approximately 2:35 p.m., 52-year-old Steven R. Johnson of Bryan was riding as a passenger in a pickup truck traveling west on U.S. Route 24 through Richland Township in Defiance County. At the same time, Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Fernando Chavez was conducting a traffic stop on the right shoulder between Jewell and Independence roads. Chavez had stopped another vehicle for speeding and was inside his marked patrol cruiser writing the driver a citation. The cruiser's emergency lights were activated.
.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the pickup driven by 28-year-old Justin R. Johnson traveled off the right side of the highway and struck the rear of Chavez's stationary patrol cruiser. The force of the collision pushed the cruiser forward into the vehicle Chavez had stopped.
.
Steven Johnson suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. Justin Johnson sustained life-threatening injuries and was flown to ProMedica Toledo Hospital. Sgt. Chavez was transported to ProMedica Defiance Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver and passenger of the vehicle Chavez had stopped were also transported to the hospital for possible injuries. The collision therefore killed Steven and injured four other people.
.
The westbound lanes of U.S. 24 were closed for approximately one hour and then restricted to one lane while investigators worked at the scene. The roadway was fully reopened approximately three hours after the crash.
.
Unlike many police-vehicle fatalities, this crash did not involve a pursuit, emergency response or moving police cruiser. Chavez's cruiser was stationary on the shoulder with its emergency lights activated when the pickup struck it from behind. The Ohio State Highway Patrol attributed the collision to the pickup driver failing to move over or slow down for the roadside traffic stop. The crash was later specifically cited by the Ohio Department of Transportation and OSHP in a statewide campaign urging motorists to comply with Ohio's Move Over law.
.
DISPOSITION:
The available reporting identifies the crash as a failure-to-move-over collision. No criminal charge against Sgt. Fernando Chavez resulted from Steven Johnson's death.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Sgt. Fernando Chavez was the Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper conducting the traffic stop when his stationary cruiser was struck. Chavez sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the collision. The Ohio Department of Transportation subsequently identified Chavez by name when using the crash to illustrate the dangers police, emergency personnel and roadside workers face from passing vehicles.

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/defiance-driver-fails-to-move-over-or-slow-down-causes-fatal-crash/

https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/man-dies-4-others-taken-to-hospital-after-pickup-strikes-police-cruiser-and-another-car/512-905fd5a0-3dcc-46df-aa21-2817ee11f672

https://www.13abc.com/2021/09/05/driver-doesnt-move-over-traffic-stop-causes-fatal-crash-state-troopers-say/

https://www.fox19.com/2021/09/05/troopers-stress-importance-move-over-slow-down-law/

Adam Nickolas Alvarez, 37, was found dead inside a residence at 8904 Corona Road in Las Cruces, New Mexico, following a standoff with police. Alvarez allegedly fired shots at a Dona Ana County deputy. Police opened fire, and after several hours, he was discovered deceased inside the home.

https://kvia.com/news/abc-7-aler t-center/2021/09/03/man-who-died-in-standoff-with-deputies-near-las-cruces-is-identified
https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/incident-reported-near-highway-70-in-doa-ana-county
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/232529270/adam-nikolas-alvarez