Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 12/07/2009

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Terry Menshek (707) 565-3098 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Diana E. Gomez

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

SHERIFF DEPUTIES LEGALLY JUSTIFIED IN SHOOTING DEATH
OF ARMED SONOMA VALLEY MAN

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that four Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputies who were involved in a fatal shooting of a despondent man were legally justified in using deadly force in defense of themselves and others. The deputies were responding to a 911 call for emergency assistance at a Sonoma residence when the shooting occurred. The officers fired their weapons after Craig Von Dohlen refused to drop his rifle and then pointed his rifle at them.

District Attorney Passalacqua stated, “This was a tragic incident for both the Von Dohlen family and the deputies who were doing their jobs. This incident is another example of the lethal combination of using methamphetamine and being armed with a gun.”

On December 6, 2008, four Sonoma County Deputies responded to a 911 call regarding a man with a loaded rifle, under the influence of drugs, threatening to shoot his father, and shoot a deputy in order to invoke a lethal response from law enforcement. Within minutes the four deputies were on Napa Road. At the end of a driveway, Craig Von Dohlen, holding a rifle, stood facing them about forty to fifty feet away. Two deputies loudly ordered him to drop the gun and get down. Instead, he screamed and charged up the driveway toward the deputies. When he was within twenty feet he pointed the rifle at the deputies who reacted by firing their service weapons. Craig Von Dohlen died from injuries resulting from a gunshot wound sustained during the confrontation. At the time of his death his blood contained a toxic amount of methamphetamine.

Immediately after the shooting the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office invoked the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Employee-Involved Fatal Incident Protocol (“protocol”). The purpose of this protocol is to set forth procedures and guidelines to be used by Sonoma County law enforcement agencies in the criminal investigation of specifically defined incidents involving law enforcement employees. Under this protocol an outside law enforcement agency is designated to investigate officer-involved fatalities. In this case, the Santa Rosa Police Department was the lead agency. The role of the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office in a law enforcement employee-involved fatal incident is to review the investigation to determine if there exists any criminal liability on the part of anyone, including law enforcement employees. After conducting a thorough review of the investigation, the District Attorney found no evidence of criminal liability on the part of any member of the Sheriff’s Office.