Multi-Agency Law Enforcement Team Issues Initial Response to Redding Police Shooting

Six days after Redding Police shot and injured a man behind the wheel of a car parked near a Safeway on Cypress Drive, a Captain with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office has issued a media statement relaying the results of an initial investigation conducted by the Officer Involved Critical Incident Response Team (OCIRT), a County-wide group.

The statement from Captain Chris Edwards says that on March 26 Redding Police Officers “attempted to contact a male adult seated in a vehicle”. The officers “were in full uniform and driving marked police vehicles,” Edwards added, indicating that the contact consisted of “verbal commands (that) were given to the driver in an attempt to place him under arrest.” 

Moments later, according to the Sheriff’s Office, the driver “forced a violent confrontation” by accelerating the car toward the officer. The movement of the vehicle, the statement indicates, is what precipitated the unnamed RPD officer’s decision to shoot into the car. 

According to the Sheriff’s statement, the driver was struck by the officer’s bullets but managed to drive a few blocks away before crashing. The unknown victim was then transferred to a hospital where he is still receiving medical care. 

While the driver of the vehicle remains unnamed at this point in the investigation, the release notes that his “identity was known to the officers, and they knew he had an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest.” It does not clarify what kind of warrant the officers had.

Some of the details released by the Sheriff’s Office are inconsistent with the testimony of a witness Shasta Scout interviewed at the scene. On the day of the shooting, Beverly Weber said she was sitting in her car mere feet from where the officer first stepped out of their vehicle. She insists that she did not hear a verbal command from the officer before they fired.

To comply with California law, body camera footage from the shooting must be released within 45 days. That footage may resolve at least some of the important factors that the District Attorney will consider during an independent review of the violent encounter.

Under Assembly Bill 392, there must be an “imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury” to justify police officers’ use of lethal force. 

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