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Dwayne Michael Fields

Age : 34

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 06/25/2021

Location : 6522 20th E

City : Fife

County : Pierce

State : Washington

Agency : Fife Police Department; Washington State Patrol

Officer(s) :Stephen O'Brien (shooter),Melissa Calder and Ryan Wyrwitzke

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police after pursuit

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 06/25/2021, Dwayne Michael Fields was killed by Washington State Patrol Trooper Stephen O'Brien following a police pursuit in Fife, Washington. Police reported that Fields drove away in a stolen terminal tractor taken from a Coca-Cola distribution facility after the owner witnessed the theft and called 911 while following the vehicle. Fife police located the tractor and attempted to stop it with spike strips while Washington State Patrol assisted by blocking intersections ahead of the pursuit. Police reported that Fields drove through several warehouse properties, damaged fences and gates, and struck a Fife police vehicle, disabling it.
The pursuit ended at an industrial warehouse parking lot on East 20th Street. Fife officers confronted Fields after the tractor stopped. Officer Ryan Wyrwitzke deployed a Taser, but investigators reported that only one probe made contact and it was ineffective. Trooper Stephen O'Brien, armed with a patrol rifle, then fired nine rounds as the terminal tractor moved backward. Fields was struck once in the back of the neck and three times in the upper back. Officers removed him from the vehicle and attempted lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds.

Fields stopped briefly during the final encounter, turned toward Fife Officer Ryan Wyrwitzke and raised his hands. O’Brien moved to the front of his patrol vehicle carrying his rifle. When the truck began rolling backward again, Wyrwitzke fired a Taser. Only one probe connected. Fife Officer Melissa Calder simultaneously drove forward to try to immobilize the truck’s rear wheel with her patrol car.
O’Brien backed away, moved laterally and fired nine rifle rounds into the cab. Fields was struck once in the back of the neck and three times in the upper back. The investigative summary does not describe Fields possessing or displaying a firearm or other conventional weapon. The asserted deadly threat was the moving truck. The state auditor emphasized that its review examined the quality and legal compliance of the investigation, not whether O’Brien’s shooting itself was justified. Pierce County prosecutors eventually wrote a May 17, 2023 memorandum declining to charge O’Brien. O’Brien declined to provide an investigative statement. Investigators instead had his dash-camera footage, microphone audio, nine cartridge casings, his rifle, two business surveillance recordings and the bullets recovered from Fields’s body.
The audit also identified procedural problems:
Investigators waited approximately two and a half weeks to interview the witness officers.
The file lacked documentation showing the witness officers were kept separated or ordered not to discuss the shooting.
A Tacoma police officer who was not assigned to the investigation accessed two reports in the case file.
PCFIT did not fully comply with certain conflict-of-interest documentation requirements.
The investigative team had deficiencies in communicating with Fields’s family and community representatives.
The Pierce County Force Investigation Team conducted the investigation. Trooper O'Brien was publicly identified approximately two weeks later and placed on administrative leave during the investigation. No criminal charges or public disciplinary action resulted from the shooting.
Three years later, on July 31, 2024, O'Brien again used deadly force, fatally shooting Ivan Zatsyev during a Washington State Patrol pursuit in Pierce County.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2021-06-25/police-shoot-kill-man-in-fife-after-stolen-vehicle-chase
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article252629928.html
https://www.piercecountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/111743/PCFIT-PR-2-4-22