Mesa, AZ Officer charged for on-duty shooting

[Sero Sed Serio]

https://www.azfamily.com/news/mesa-o...79118a3d7.html

On Dec. 6, officers were called out to Ojos Locos Sports Cantina on Alma School Road, just south of the U.S. 60, because 45-year-old Randy Sewell and his coworkers were drunk and wouldn't leave, investigators said. Sewell, who is 6'1" and 375 pounds, allegedly ignored commands from police.

Officers said Sewell wouldn't say his name and pushed an officer and that's when they tried to take him into custody by using a stun gun, an attempted takedown and hitting him. There was then a struggle between Sewell and Officer Chisler and during that struggle, Officer Chisler shot him. Sewell didn't have any weapons on him.

Court paperwork said Chisler admitted to fire his gun because he feared for his life and his fellow police officers at the time.

This article does not mention it, but a link to an earlier article (https://www.azfamily.com/news/mesa-o...655bf6022.html) indicates that at some point during the struggle Sewell grabbed a metal light pole:

Officers tried to get him to the ground but couldn't. He's 6'1" and weighs about 375 pounds. A TASER was deployed but didn't work, police said. Officers tried to get control of his arms but Sewell then grabbed a metal light pole. That's when an officer "feared for the other officers' safety" and shot Sewell in the left lower back area, police said.

The case was not submitted to the Grand Jury, but instead filed by direct complaint. The Mesa Police Association's response:

Today, Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel filed criminal charges against a member of the Mesa Police Association. Typically, these cases are first reviewed by a grand jury before charges are filed. We are disappointed Ms. Adel chose to circumvent that process and we vehemently disagree with her decision. We respect due process – one that’s free from political influence – for all people.

[Lon]

https://www.azfamily.com/news/mesa-o...79118a3d7.html

On Dec. 6, officers were called out to Ojos Locos Sports Cantina on Alma School Road, just south of the U.S. 60, because 45-year-old Randy Sewell and his coworkers were drunk and wouldn't leave, investigators said. Sewell, who is 6'1" and 375 pounds, allegedly ignored commands from police.

Officers said Sewell wouldn't say his name and pushed an officer and that's when they tried to take him into custody by using a stun gun, an attempted takedown and hitting him. There was then a struggle between Sewell and Officer Chisler and during that struggle, Officer Chisler shot him. Sewell didn't have any weapons on him.

Court paperwork said Chisler admitted to fire his gun because he feared for his life and his fellow police officers at the time.

This article does not mention it, but a link to an earlier article (https://www.azfamily.com/news/mesa-o...655bf6022.html) indicates that at some point during the struggle Sewell grabbed a metal light pole:

Officers tried to get him to the ground but couldn't. He's 6'1" and weighs about 375 pounds. A TASER was deployed but didn't work, police said. Officers tried to get control of his arms but Sewell then grabbed a metal light pole. That's when an officer "feared for the other officers' safety" and shot Sewell in the left lower back area, police said.

The case was not submitted to the Grand Jury, but instead filed by direct complaint. The Mesa Police Association's response:

Today, Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel filed criminal charges against a member of the Mesa Police Association. Typically, these cases are first reviewed by a grand jury before charges are filed. We are disappointed Ms. Adel chose to circumvent that process and we vehemently disagree with her decision. We respect due process – one that’s free from political influence – for all people.

“Grabbed a light pole” means what exactly? Article did not elaborate and that’s the crux of the matter. Subjective fear isn’t enough to justify deadly force. Need the objective facts beyond what the article listed to see if that fear was reasonable. I’d be interested to know what really happened.

Beyond that, the prosecutor is making a statement by filing direct. Be interesting to see the outcome.

[Hambo]

“Grabbed a light pole” means what exactly?

That's my question. Because to me it says, "bear hugged an immovable object" in order to further resist arrest. If instead it means he picked an object to use as a weapon, that's a very different story.

[Wayne Dobbs]

And again, we have another incident that ended in an OIS that would've been solved by the proper use of LCVNR on the resisting suspect. SMH

[BehindBlueI's]

I think there's so little actual information that it's impossible to form an opinion without a lot of imagination on what the actual context was. This could range from anything from a bad shoot to affect an arrest to a good shoot to protect an officer from serious bodily injury/death due to disparity of force. It's a Rorschach test based just on what's in the news article.

[HCM]

A better written article here but it doesn’t provide any real detail on what prompted the shooting.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...an/3254209001/

[HCM]

And again, we have another incident that ended in an OIS that would've been solved by the proper use of LCVNR on the resisting suspect. SMH

Over reliance on the “Electric Policeman” would make a good thread of it’s own.

[Sero Sed Serio]

“Grabbed a light pole” means what exactly? Article did not elaborate and that’s the crux of the matter.

to me it says, "bear hugged an immovable object" in order to further resist arrest. If instead it means he picked an object to use as a weapon, that's a very different story.

Words mean things. My initial takeaway was that Sewell picked up some sort of metal light fixture, and that Chisler believed Sewell was going to use it as a weapon. I was a bit confused by @Lon's question, but once @Hambo chimed in, I had a lightbulb moment and saw how ambiguous the wording really is.

I think there's so little actual information that it's impossible to form an opinion without a lot of imagination on what the actual context was.

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.go...=CR2019-030970

Sewell has been charged with resisting arrest as a class 6 felony (lowest level felony), instead of a class 1 misdemeanor, which means that he was actively resisting, as opposed to passively resisting. https://www.azleg.gov/viewdocument/?...s/13/02508.htm His aggravated assault charge is only a class 5 felony, though. AZ lumps every aggravated assault into one reaaaaaalllllly long statute: https://www.azleg.gov/viewdocument/?...s/13/01204.htm, which includes use of weapons, serious injuries, and special classes of victims. What would be a "simple" (misdemeanor) assault becomes a class 5 felony if the victim is a peace officer. Assault with a dangerous instrument (like a metal pole) is a class 3 felony, which is bumped up one level to a class 2 felony if the victim is a peace officer.

It does not appear that Sewell's charging prosecutor even submitted a class 2 aggravated assault (dangerous instrument/peace officer victim) charge in December 2019. There can, of course, be drastic differences between what happened on the streetz and what makes it into the Grand Jury submission, but the F5 charge alone doesn't really suggest wildly swinging metal poles wizzing a few inches from officers' heads.

Hopefully there will be more information that sheds more light on this situation. Although my knee-jerk reaction was to defend the Officer, I will keep an open mind.

[Erick Gelhaus]

And again, we have another incident that ended in an OIS that would've been solved by the proper use of LCVNR on the resisting suspect. SMH

Quite likely!

Had a couple l-o-n-g discussions about this issue today with guys still working fulltime. The use of force instructors are scrambling trying to find something viable to replace the carotid; nevermind wondering how they're going to train the carotid out of the guys/gals used to it. One younger cop asked what "they" really want.

[Yung]

Here's a thing Cecil Burch recently wrote on his blog about that.

http://www.iacombatives.com/2020/06/...ng-chokeholds/