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Derek Scott Pearson

Age : 53

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 09/07/2021

Location : 3700 block of Redding Avenue

City : Sacramento

County : Sacramento

State : California

Agency : Sacramento Police Department

Officer(s) :Chase Cunningham; Jeffrey Dahl; Jeremiah Jarvis

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during SWAT barricade

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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.
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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.

SOURCE LINKS :

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