PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Friday that the police officer who shot and killed Ryan Whitaker last year will face no charges for the incident.
Whitaker was shot three times in the back, less than three seconds after answering the door of his Ahwatukee apartment in May 2020.
Whitaker answered the door while holding a gun at his side, which his family said was due to recent problems with someone knocking on his door at night.
“Mr. Whitaker legally owned a firearm. He legally responded to a knock on his door late at night with that gun. His decision to leave the house and the way he did it did not violate any law,” wrote the prosecutor. Maricopa County Allister Adel in his decision to collect.
It is worth noting that the police should never have been called in the first place. There was no domestic violence taking place at home, but a neighbor called 911 twice and escalated the call priority saying, “I can tell they are attacking each other down there.”
On the second call, the neighbor said, “Could it be physical? I can say, yes. Would that make anyone hurry?”
The video from the body camera, which can be seen here, shows Whitaker immediately moving the gun in the back after seeing the police. The cops shout “hands” and Whitaker steps back, raises his left hand in the air, crouches down and puts his hand on the ground with the gun.
At that moment, 2.6 seconds after Whitaker answered the door, a police officer fires three times in less than a second. Whitaker falls forward on the catwalk.
“Mr. Whitaker is dead and should not be,” wrote Adel.
Adel, however, refused to file charges, although he acknowledged Whitaker’s clear compliment.
“Mr. Whitaker was moving his gun to lower it and put his hands up … It does not appear that Mr. Whitaker was a threat to the police,” she wrote. “Officer Cooke’s conclusion, while inaccurate in retrospect, was not irrational at the time and therefore was not a crime.”
Officer Jeff Cooke told investigators that he fired his gun because he believed the other officer was “in imminent danger”.
An “expert in the use of independent force”, who is a retired Nevada police officer, analyzed the case for the MCAO and concluded that, due to reaction time and the potential threat, Officer Cooke’s shots were justified.
Whitaker’s relatives do not believe this argument based on the body camera and the elapsed time.
“So your word is above the law and visual evidence?” asked Katie Baeza, Whitaker’s sister. “Because it made him feel a certain way, is he allowed to shoot and kill someone?
The Phoenix City Council voted unanimously in December to approve a $ 3 million deal with the Whitaker family.
“He was at home playing video games and he did nothing wrong. On the contrary, he took the position that anyone would, and yet he lost his life, ”said councilman Carlos Garcia. “I just wanted us to have a process not just to throw money at it, but to really change the policy. In fact, hold police officers accountable.”
The Maricopa County Prosecutor’s Office says that although it was “heartbreaking”, they would not be able to prove that Officer Cooke’s decision to shoot Whitaker was unreasonable.
Phoenix police told ABC15 that Officer Cooke is still in a non-supervisory position and that the department hopes to complete the administrative investigation soon.
Prosecutor Adel’s conclusion on why she did not file the charges:
“When terrible things like that happen, we naturally want to find out who was right and who was wrong. Mr. Whitaker is dead and he shouldn’t be. It’s natural to try to find out who is to blame; we want to assess guilt.
Mr. Whitaker legally owned a firearm. He responded legally to a knock on his door late at night with that gun. His decision to leave the house and the way he did it did not violate any law. Likewise, police officers responded appropriately to an appeal for an active domestic violence situation. They knocked on the door and announced who they were.
Following their training and experience, they positioned themselves appropriately for protection in case someone inside wanted to harm them. They assumed that those inside knew that the police were at the door – they had announced their presence. When Mr. Whitaker came out the door with a gun in his hand, it was reasonable for the police to conclude that he wanted to harm them.
Officer Cooke’s conclusion, while inaccurate in retrospect, was not unreasonable at the time and therefore was not a crime. This is precisely why this case is so painful: while Officer Cooke and Mr. Whitaker could have made decisions that would have prevented this terrible outcome, none of them has done anything that is prohibited by our criminal laws. “