Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 15, 2024 OIS Findings— 1 — 500 South Clinton Street • Suite 400 • Iowa City, IA 52240 Phone (319) 339-6100 • Fax (319) 339-6149 Rachel Zimmermann Smith County Attorney August 23, 2024 OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING ON JULY 15, 2024 A law enforcement officer shot Doug Wittkop during an incident that occurred on July 15, 2024, at his home located at 1123 Wylde Green Road. Wittkop sustained injuries to his left leg and abdomen. The incident involved the Iowa City Police Department. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) investigated the incident, and its investigation is complete. Following the investigation, I was asked to review their findings and determine whether the Officer’s actions were justified. I reviewed all the evidence provided by DCI, including but not limited to body camera footage, interviews, dispatch calls and recordings, and photos and diagrams of the scene. PERTINENT FACTS On July 15, 2024, at 8:40 AM Iowa City Police Officers were dispatched to 1123 Wylde Green Road for a male threatening suicide with a gun and woman yelling “Help!” in the background. Iowa City Police Officers Alirio Arcenas and Darin Zacharias arrived at the single-family home located in a residential neighborhood at approximately 8:46 AM. Both officers could hear screaming coming from the back of the house and approached the backyard. As they rounded the northwest corner of the house looking into the backyard, they observed a male and female engaged in a physical struggle. The male was later identified as Doug Wittkop (“Wittkop”), and the female was identified as Ruth Wittkop (“Ruth”), husband and wife and residents of 1123 Wylde Green Office of the Johnson County Attorney Criminal Jude T. Pannell Michael K. Lang Jeffrey W. Brunelle Haley Huddleston Oubonh P. White Jacob Behnke C. Chris Widmer Katherine E. Schutz Veronica Stafford Juvenile Emily Voss Dan Williamson Civil Ryan A. Maas Lynn M. Rose Nathan Peters Dave VanCompernolle Child Support 1-(888) 229-9223 Susan D. Nehring First Assistant County Attorney — 2 — Road. Wittkop was holding a gun and Ruth was grabbing Wittkop around his waist yelling “Stop it!” repeatedly. As officers arrived Ruth yelled, “He’s got a gun!” Officer Arcenas immediately established communication with Wittkop in a conversational tone. Arcenas remained near the northwest corner of the house looking into the backyard while Zacharias moved to the back area of the yard. Wittkop was standing approximately 15-20 feet of Arcenas. Arcenas and Zacharias observed that Wittkop was holding a semi-automatic 9mm handgun with an extended magazine in his right hand. Wittkop’s finger was inside the trigger guard and remained there throughout the interaction. The extended magazine was holding 32 rounds of ammunition and had one round in the chamber. High-capacity ammunition magazines increase the number of rounds the user can fire without reloading, and the semi-automatic weapon was capable of causing lethal injury to all of the persons present in the backyard and any persons who might be in the vicinity of the backyard. Given the nature of the call and the observations made by Arcenas, he had his patrol rifle drawn as approached the backyard. Wittkop appeared highly agitated and despondent. He was pacing and shifting back and forth in a small area in the middle of the yard, remaining a few yards from officers and Ruth. He was holding the gun with his finger in the trigger guard and waving the gun erratically, but below his waist. Arcenas remained calm and continued to try and engage Wittkop in a conversation about what was going on with the gun. Wittkop did not fully engage in conversation but told Arcenas that it is “too late” and that he did not want to live anymore. He continued to shift and move around, and Arcenas asked him to sit down. Wittkop did not sit down or put the weapon down. Arcenas encouraged Ruth to back away and walk to the side of the yard near Officer Zacharias. Ruth complied but did not leave the area and remained in the backyard near a treehouse. Arcenas continued to try to engage Wittkop in conversation and used his attached radio to ask for a negotiator on scene. Trained negotiator Ryan Schnackel was already in route and joined Arcenas in trying to engage Wittkop. Wittkop did not engage in dialogue with Schnackel but remained agitated, shifting and pacing back and forth with the gun still in his hand, moving back and forth in front of him. At 8:51:50 AM Wittkop told Ruth to “close her eyes” and Arcenas responded, “Doug, be careful with the gun!” Wittkop did not change his demeanor or respond. At 8:52:49 AM, Officer Zacharias discharged a less lethal 40mm plastic and foam projectile to try to disarm Wittkop and told Wittkop to drop the gun. The less-lethal force did not appear to affect Wittkop, and he did not — 3 — drop the gun. Zacharias quickly discharged another less-lethal projectile which also had no effect. By that time Sgt. Andy Rich, and Officers Thomas Mills and Ronnie Gist were also on scene behind Arcenas. As the less-lethal force was deployed and immediately after, Officers ordered Wittkop to drop the gun at least 13 times. Wittkop still did not comply and continued to shift back and forth in an agitated state with the gun in his right hand with his finger in the trigger guard area with the gun pointing out away from his body into the yard. After the second less-lethal projectile was deployed Arcenas ordered Wittkop several more times to let go of the gun and to relax his hand. Wittkop replied, “I can’t!” in response to Arcenas. He appeared to tense up with the gun still in his hand pointing away from himself. Arcenas responded by telling Wittkop to “lay down then.” While Arcenas was telling Wittkop to lay down, Wittkop started to raise his gun. The gun was nearly to Wittkop’s waist height when Arcenas fired two shots from his patrol rifle hitting Wittkop in the leg and abdomen. Wittkop fell to the ground. Officers immediately attend to Wittkop’s injuries, and he was transported to the hospital by waiting emergency medical personnel. APPLICABLE LAW To be justified, the force used by Officer Arcenas must have been reasonable. Reasonable force is that force which a reasonable person, in like circumstances, would judge necessary to prevent an injury or loss. It can include deadly force if it is reasonable for a person to believe that such force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to the person’s or another’s life or safety, and it is reasonable to believe that such force is necessary to resist a like force or threat. Iowa Code §§ 704.1, 704.2 and 704.3. In Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), the United States Supreme Court held that the use of force by a police officer must be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable police officer on the scene and in the same circumstances. Under Graham, reasonableness of police use of force cannot be evaluated from the perspective of a civilian or the perspective afforded by 20/20 hindsight. The Court further stated that the fact that officers are often forced to make split second judgments in tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving situations must be considered in determining reasonableness. — 4 — CONCLUSION The actions of Officer Arcenas were legally justified. The decision to use lethal force against Doug Wittkop was reasonable under the circumstances. Doug Wittkop’s actions gave rise to reasonable fear that Ruth Wittkop, the officers present and residents nearby were in grave danger. Wittkop was in an agitated state, armed with a semi -automatic handgun with an extended magazine containing 32 rounds of ammunition capable of inflicting injury or death upon multiple people within seconds. His finger was in the trigger guard area throughout the interaction. Given the type of weapon and the amount of ammunition readily available for use, and Wittkop’s demeanor, Arcenas would have been reasonable in considering lethal force at multiple times during his encounter with Wittkop. Despite the tense and dangerous situation, Officer Arcenas calmly tried do everything he could to avoid using force by expressing care and concern for Wittkop and his wife and trying to engage Wittkop in dialogue. Even after less-lethal force was used unsuccessfully, Arcenas continued to try to deescalate, but Doug Wittkop refused commands to sit down, to drop the gun, or to lay down. His decision to fire shots at the point when he observed that Wittkop appeared to be lifting the weapon in a manner consistent with firing the weapon, was reasonable under the circumstances. Officer Arcenas was justified in using force to end the continuing threat to Ruth Wittkop, the officers present, and nearby residents. RACHEL ZIMMERMANN SMITH JOHNSON COUNTY ATTORNEY