The Paradise police officer who investigators say accidentally shot a man in the neck last month will not face criminal charges, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced Thursday.
Ramsey said the evidence in this case shows the shooting to be accidental, and possibly negligent, but not criminally so. “This shooting is not justified, but also not criminal."
Paradise Police Officer Patrick Feaster, a five year veteran of the department, was parked on the Skyway around midnight Thanksgiving morning, when he saw a Toyota Four-Runner speeding out of the Canteena Bar parking lot without headlights on.
Feaster followed in his patrol car, as the Toyota ran a red light and turned onto Pearson Road where the driver, 26-year-old Andrew Thomas struck the median and flipped, ejecting his 23-year old wife Darien Ehorn from the vehicle. Ehorn was killed in the crash.
Ramsey said Feaster drew his gun when Thomas “popped” out of the car, believing he would flee. As Officer Feaster moved towards Thomas, the gun discharged and struck Thomas in the neck. The shot hit Thomas in the C7 and T1 vertebrae and could lead to him being paralyzed for life.
When backup arrived on the scene, Feaster did not mention anything about having fired his weapon. According to Ramsey, Feaster notified his commanding officer about the discharge only after Thomas’ gunshot wound was found.
As the commanding officer suggested an officer return to Canteena and try to find out if Thomas had been shot at the bar, Feaster revealed that he may have shot Thomas.
Ramsey said nearly 11 minutes passed before any other officers, medics or firefighters learned Thomas had been shot.
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4 comments:
Yeah,I accidentally shot a mom in the grocery store last week in the head. Just one of those "not enough coffee" mornings for me. They let me off on the sleepy excuse.
Happens all the time.
1201 because of the type of work you do, you can never know what's it's like to be s God warrior. It would suck to be a man and only combat you see is through the tv and critiquing real people doing it
I hate it when my gun just discharges all on its' own.
So, a cop shoots an unarmed civilian (no! say it ain't so!), leaves him without care for 11 minutes and doesn't even mention that he shot someone until forced to do that?!
And, 9:03, a cop is now a "God warrior" (??) and police work is somehow, in some way, a "combat" job?
You must have never been in combat. I mean real combat, not "Call of Duty".
Does someone also have to BE a politician to criticize them? Citizens get to critique police ANYTIME THEY LIKE.
Police are our SERVANTS. They answer to "we, the people" just like ALL civil SERVANTS do.
Having a "I can do anything I want" badge doesn't mean you get to shoot people and hide the fact. Or leave them to die because you f'd up. It's not Afghanistan. By any measure.
Keep cheering.
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