Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 06/05/2008

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Donna Edwards - 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Christine M. Cook

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

NO CHARGES IN DEATH OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUSPECT TASERED AFTER TELLING OFFICERS TO SHOOT HIM

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that his office has completed its review of the investigation into the death of Walter Leroy Heller. The Petaluma Police Department invoked the county-wide Officer-Involved Fatal Incident Protocol in this case and the Santa Rosa Police Department investigated the matter. District Attorney’s Office personnel responded to the scene, monitored and assisted the investigation, and conducted the legal review. After reviewing all the evidence and the totality of the circumstances, the District Attorney concluded that the involved police officers acted lawfully in using non-lethal force to effect the arrest of this domestic violence suspect who was combative with officers while yelling at them to shoot him.

On April 22, 2007, Petaluma Police Officers Jason Lechleiter and Gary Buffo were dispatched to a domestic violence call in Petaluma. The 911 call was placed by the female victim from her neighbor’s residence. The victim informed the 911 dispatcher that Mr. Heller had beaten her at their residence in the Youngstown Mobile Home complex and fled the location in his vehicle. Officers Lechleiter and Buffo contacted the victim and found her upset and crying, with redness on her face and bruising around her eyes.

Meanwhile, Petaluma Police Officer Dustin Rodrigues was driving his marked patrol vehicle toward the location when he observed a pickup truck matching Mr. Heller’s vehicle’s description. While at the entrance for the Youngstown Mobile Home complex, Officer Rodrigues informed dispatch that he would be making a traffic stop on the vehicle. At that time, Officer Lechleiter relayed information from the victim over the police radio indicating that Mr. Heller possessed a rifle-type firearm, but it was not known whether Mr. Heller had the rifle with him. Officer Buffo left to assist Officer Rodrigues.

Officer Rodrigues followed Mr. Heller’s vehicle into the mobile home complex. Officer Rodrigues was wearing his department issued uniform and driving in a marked patrol vehicle. He turned on his emergency lights and siren and attempted to make a traffic stop on Mr. Heller’s vehicle. Mr. Heller refused to yield, and continued driving. Officer Rodrigues could see Mr. Heller looking in his side-view mirror several times, apparently shaking his head in an angry manner. Officer Buffo arrived and activated his patrol car’s emergency lights and siren while driving behind Officer Rodrigues. Mr. Heller continued driving through the complex, and then quickly turned into his carport on Pamela Drive.

This abrupt turn caused Officer Rodrigues to stop his vehicle such that his driver’s side door was facing Mr. Heller’s vehicle, leaving Officer Rodrigues without adequate cover, or protection, from Mr. Heller. Officer Buffo arrived and parked his vehicle next to Officer Rodrigues’ passenger side door. Mr. Heller immediately jumped out of his vehicle, began yelling at the officers and walking toward them. With his right hand down by his side, he raised his left hand in the air and threw his keys, which landed on the cover of his truck bed. Officers Buffo and Rodrigues drew their service firearms and identified themselves as police officers.

Officers Rodrigues and Buffo ordered Mr. Heller to show his hands, which he did. Officer Rodrigues noted blood on the knuckles and fingers of Mr. Heller’s right hand. Mr. Heller was approximately 12-15 feet from Officer Rodrigues. Officers Rodrigues and Buffo then ordered Mr. Heller to turn around and place his hands on his head. Mr. Heller initially turned around and raised his hands, but then quickly turned back around and dropped his hands. He began to yell at the officers, saying “Fucking shoot me!” Officers Rodrigues and Buffo again ordered Mr. Heller to place his hands on his head and turn around. Mr. Heller refused to comply and instead, continued moving forward toward them, waving his arms, now at distance of approximately 8-10 feet from Officer Rodrigues.

Officer Buffo radioed dispatch that Mr. Heller was uncooperative and requested additional units to respond. Officer Lechleiter heard the dispatch and immediately ran toward Pamela Drive. Officer Buffo moved closer to Mr. Heller, who then took off his glasses and threw them on top of the truck bed. Officer Buffo, believing that Mr. Heller was prepared to engage in a physical fight with the officers, told Officer Rodrigues to “Tase” Mr. Heller. Officer Rodrigues holstered his firearm and unholstered his Taser, pointing it at Heller. Meanwhile, Officer Lechleiter approached and came within 10 feet of Mr. Heller, who had taken a fighting stance, as though ready to fight with Officer Rodrigues. Officer Lechleiter believed that Mr. Heller was prepared to either physically fight the officers or force them to use physical force.

When Mr. Heller got within 5 feet, Officer Lechleiter unholstered his Taser and pointed it at Mr. Heller.
Officers Lechleiter and Rodrigues then simultaneously deployed and activated their Tasers. The Taser probes struck Mr. Heller and ran their 5 second cycle. Mr. Heller fell backwards and struck his head on the ground. The officers ordered Mr. Heller to roll over. Mr. Heller began to comply with the instructions. Mr. Heller was then handcuffed. The officers saw that Mr. Heller was bleeding from the back of his head. They informed dispatch that Tasers had been deployed and requested medics to the scene.

The officers could smell the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Mr. Heller and noted that his speech was somewhat slurred. Mr. Heller said he did not follow the commands because he was not paying attention. He also said that he had told the officers to shoot him because he wanted them to “put him out of his misery” and he had a “rough day.”

The Petaluma Fire Department and Paramedics arrived and treated Mr. Heller at the scene. He was sitting up on the driveway with his hands cuffed behind his back. A firefighter noticed the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Mr. Heller’s breath and a small amount of blood on the back of his head, but did not observe any symptoms of shock. A Fire Captain noted that Mr. Heller answered medical questions appropriately. Mr. Heller was transported via ambulance to Petaluma Valley Hospital approximately 10 minutes after the Paramedics’ arrival.

At the hospital, Officer Lechleiter read Mr. Heller his Miranda rights and obtained a taped statement. Mr. Heller appeared alert and coherent, and indicated that he understood his rights. Mr. Heller acknowledged that he had hit the victim. He actually said that he “didn’t hit her hard enough” because “she fucking still woke up” and “she’s still alive.”

A CT-scan at Petaluma Valley Hospital showed a skull fracture and blood around the brain. Mr. Heller was then transported by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for emergency surgery. Following surgery, Mr. Heller was placed on life support. Mr. Heller was removed from life support by his family on April 24, 2007. An autopsy was conducted on April 25, 2007.

According to the Autopsy Report, the cause of death was, “blunt force head injuries, due to a witnessed fall, due to tasering.” Also noted was a clinical history of medical anticoagulation medication to prevent the blood from clotting, which also caused Mr. Heller to continuously bleed during his emergency surgery. Four to six weeks before this incident, Mr. Heller had undergone heart surgery and a stent was inserted. Mr. Heller was given a series of medical prescriptions after that procedure. Mr. Heller had been taking Metoprolol (a beta-blocker to slow down his heart rate), Clopidogrel (a blood thinning agent), Lovastatin (lowers cholesterol), and Temazepam (for insomnia). The medications indicate the possible side effects are impaired thinking and reaction. The medications also advise against consuming alcoholic beverages while taking the medication. Mr. Heller’s blood was analyzed and tested positive for Cannabinoids, which is marijuana. The analysis also indicated Mr. Heller’s blood alcohol level was 0.116% at Petaluma Valley Hospital and 0.019% at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Mr. Heller’s blood also contained methamphetamine, amphetamine and phentermine. The amount of methamphetamine in his system was at an amount considered to be an effective level. However, the amounts of amphetamine and phentermine in his system were below the amount considered to be an effective level.

With regard to Mr. Heller’s initial domestic violence assault, the victim related that she had previously dated Mr. Heller for about 9 years. She said he had recently purchased the Pamela Drive residence and she was his roommate living in a separate bedroom. On April 22, 2007, the two had an argument during which the victim decided to gather some belongings and leave the residence. Mr. Heller began banging on her locked bedroom door while she was inside and she opened the door. Mr. Heller immediately forced her into the bedroom and then into the bathroom and the bathtub. He then punched her several times in the face and strangled her. She did not recall losing consciousness but said he strangled her to the point that she started to urinate on herself. During the struggle, she accidentally turned on the faucet resulting in her becoming completely wet. Mr. Heller injured his hand while assaulting her and, when he realized this, the assault ended and she fled the residence.

Several residents of the Youngstown Mobile Home complex heard the sirens and exited their homes to see what happened. Several of these witnesses saw officers giving Mr. Heller commands to put his hands on his head and saw Mr. Heller disregard those commands, behave belligerently, waving his arms around, and throw something. One of the witnesses heard Mr. Heller challenge the officers to fight. These witnesses then saw the officers deploy and activate their tasers, striking Mr. Heller.

The sole legal question is whether the officers’ use of force, which resulted in Mr. Heller’s death, was legally justified. The officers had probable cause to arrest Mr. Heller for having committed a felony domestic battery and also for his willful failure to yield to an officer attempting detention. Thus, the officers, engaged in the lawful performance of their duties, had the legal duty to make the arrest of Mr. Heller. In carrying out their duties, having met defiant resistance from Mr. Heller, they had the right to use reasonable force to make the arrest. To determine whether the officers’ use of non-lethal Tasers was reasonable, all the circumstances are analyzed to determine if a reasonable officer in the same position, knowing all the facts known to these officers, would believe that it was necessary to diffuse the danger to their safety by using that level of force.

At the time that Officers Lechleiter and Rodrigues deployed their Tasers, each of the three officers on scene feared for their for their own safety and the safety of their fellow officers. Their fear arose from the totality of the circumstances known to them at the time.

Mr. Heller’s actions demonstrated that he was not going to willingly comply with their requests or submit to his arrest. The officers were aware that Mr. Heller had been involved in a domestic violence dispute. They had received information that he owned a rifle and might possibly have it with him. There was the possibility that Mr. Heller was armed with a weapon or had a weapon readily available for use. The officers were not able to search the vehicle or pat him down for weapons at this point. The officers had no idea what was behind his back, in his truck, or on his person.

Even without a weapon, Mr. Heller clearly appeared to want to engage in a physical altercation. He was combative and aggressive. He had just committed a violent and physical domestic assault. He intentionally failed to yield to the initial attempt to detain him. He refused to comply with the officers’ commands, yelling at them, aggressively walking toward them, and throwing objects. Most disturbingly, he yelled several times for the officers to shoot him. He assumed a fighting stance, appeared ready to fight, with his fists clenched got within 5 feet from an officer before the Tasers were deployed. He admitted afterwards that he wanted the officers to “put him out of his misery.” If he were able to obtain a firearm during a fight with the officers, he could have potentially inflicted serious or deadly harm on any of the officers or himself.

None of the officers had ever met Mr. Heller before, and were not aware of Mr. Heller’s medical condition. There is no evidence to suggest the officers knew or should have known that the deployment of the Taser would result in his death.

A reasonable person would believe, based on all of these factors, that Mr. Heller intended to engage in a potentially deadly confrontation with the officers. The officers chose to use an alternative, and less lethal, force than the firearm to effect the arrest of Mr. Heller and to diffuse the physical threat he posed to them. That decision to use that level of force was objectively reasonable. Under all the circumstances, therefore, there is no criminal liability for the resulting death of Mr. Heller.