A few weeks ago, I finished reviewing the facts and circumstances surrounding the Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) that occurred in Hunters last August. The purpose of the review is to make a decision regarding whether or not the officer’s use of deadly force against a person was justified in the situation. Thus, it is important to know what happened. The Spokane Incident Regional Response (SIRR) is put together to do the best that can be done to get to the truth of what happened. They conducted the investigation.

On August 19, 2015, at about 6 p.m., officers responded to 911 calls for assistance in the Hunters area. The calls reported a man with a gun making threats and another call of a man with a gun at the school. As officers responded, other calls were received which identified the subject with the gun as twenty-nine year old Jason Hale, a convicted felon. Three deputies were able to respond. This was during the height of the fires last year. Sergeant Erdman and Deputy Jen Stearns were closest to the area and then joined by Corporal David Reed. Erdman and Stearns started looking for Mr. Hale on foot. Reed stayed in a patrol vehicle.

After some minutes and receiving information from local folks, Sergeant Erdman saw Hale for a moment and told the other two deputies. Cpl Reed was the first to make contact with Mr. Hale. Reed got out of his car and approached Hale. Hale was not cooperative and began to fight Reed. They separated and then Hale pulled a gun from under his shirt and said he was going to shoot. As he began to raise it, Reed shot once and missed Hale. Hale began to raise the gun again and Reed shot once more. Sgt Erdman was close by and observed the shot that hit Hale.

Toxicology tests revealed that Mr. Hale had a high level of meth and some marijuana in his blood at the time of shooting.

Corporal Reed faced a convicted felon with a gun, who was high on meth and marijuana, who had threatened others with the gun and who fought the officer and who then began to raise the gun toward the officer. Deputy Reed’s use of deadly force was justified. No charges will be filed against Corporal Reed in this incident.

This is a brief summary. The entire decline letter is available from my office upon request.