Board: Officer’s second shotgun blast too much

Keith Paul

Wednesday, March 13, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

A rookie Metro Police officer violated the department's deadly force policy when he fired a second blast from a shotgun at a suspect fleeing in a car earlier this year, Sheriff Jerry Keller told the Sun.

Metro's Use of Force Board ruled Monday night Officer Chris Holmes was justified when he fired a shot at the car Beau Dearborne was driving toward Officer Russel Smith, but the board ruled he violated department policy when he fired a second blast at the car after it was already past the two officers.

Keller said Holmes, 26, who had just graduated from the academy at the time, will get a written reprimand and undergo re-training.

"These decisions (to shoot) are made in a fraction of a heartbeat," Keller said. "It was a tough situation that the cop was in. The first shot was justified, but the second shot shouldn't been fired."

Smith and Holmes went to an alley in the 1500 block of Fremont Street near 15th Street about 9:45 p.m. responding to a report of a man with a gun in an alley. Dearborne, 22, allegedly drove a pickup truck at the officers.

Holmes fired a shot at the car as it was coming down the alley, and Smith fired six shots as he was running across the alley to get behind the police car, police said.

The board, made up of four civilians and three officers, narrowly ruled in a 4-3 vote that he did not violate department policy, Deputy Chief Ray Flynn said.

Smith, 30, an officer for three years, was training Holmes. After the shooting, Smith voluntarily stopped being a training officer.

Dearborne crashed into a block wall and was taken into custody. He was not injured and faces an April trial on various charges.

Gary Peck, American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada executive director, said the department needs to do more on the issue of officers getting involved in shootings.

"While I do applaud the department for recognizing the problem, this incident is yet another indication that Metro has not gone far enough, quickly enough to fix what is wrong," he said. "We have received a number of complaints and reports where the police have been very quick to draw their weapons, and that is troubling."

With four shootings deemed to have violated department police in the past two years, Peck said Metro needs to give its officers more training.

"There is obviously a problem and it needs to be addressed aggressively in order to avoid unnecessary tragedy," he said.

The latest board's decision comes about 18 months after Keller ordered all officers to undergo four hours of training in the wake of a board ruling that three officers violated policy in three separate shootings in 2000.

Keller said when he ordered all officers to undergo training, it was not punishment, but to make sure officers were positioning themselves in situations correctly so the incidents would not necessarily rise to the level of deadly force.

In two of the three shootings that were deemed in violation of policy in 2000, the officers fired at a car once the car had moved by them.

The department's policy manual says officers may use deadly force to "protect themselves and others from what is reasonably believed to be an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm."

However, the policy states officers should try to get out of the way of cars, if possible, rather than shooting.

The Use of Force Board reviews officers' actions when someone is killed or seriously hurt by an officer or whenever an officer fires a gun at a person. The board determines if the officers acted within department guidelines and then makes recommendations to the sheriff for discipline.

In 2001 there were 17 Use of Force Board hearings and in each case, the board ruled the officer acted within the guidelines.