Police: Plan to arrest man called for pepper spray, ended with bullets

By Conor Shine

Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 | 5:40 p.m.

Details released by Metro Police in Monday’s shooting of Stanley Gibson, a 43-year-old Gulf War veteran, show Gibson was shot by an officer in a botched attempt to force him from his car using pepper spray and non-lethal beanbag rounds.

A statement issued by Metro on Friday detailed events leading up to the shooting, in which Gibson was killed after Metro officers responded to a burglary call at a condominium complex. Gibson was unarmed.

The shooting was the 18th officer-involved shooting in Metro’s jurisdiction this year and has prompted calls by some organizations for a federal investigation into how the department uses deadly force.

Early Monday morning, Gibson spent more than half an hour in his white Cadillac, boxed in by two patrol cars, while Metro officers repeatedly ordered him to get out of the vehicle, according to the statement.

Gibson persisted in trying to drive away, spinning his tires while failing to acknowledge officers and refusing to exit the vehicle, the statement said.

Police developed a plan to use a beanbag round fired from a shotgun to break a window on Gibson’s car and then fill the cabin with pepper spray to force him out, the statement said.

But when the beanbag round was fired, another officer fired seven live rounds from a rifle, striking and killing Gibson, the statement said.

Officer Jesus Arevalo, officer Malik Grego-Smith, Sgt. Michael Hnatuick and Lt. David Dockendorf were involved in the shooting, which happened near Smoke Ranch Road and Rainbow Boulevard, police said.

According to Stanley Gibson’s wife, Rhonda, Gibson was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and brain cancer.

Rhonda Gibson said her husband had been unable to get his medication to control his anxiety and that he called her in a state of confusion Sunday night, thinking he was home while he was at the neighboring condominium complex.