AG releases report on police shooting death

A Maryland Attorney General’s Office report released Monday outlined that blasts from a Harford County sheriff ’s deputy’s shotgun killed John Fauver just moments after another deputy yelled that the suspect was wielding a cane, not a gun.

The incident took place April 23, 2022 behind the CVS pharmacy in the Bel Air North Village shopping center in Forest Hill. Officers confronted Fauver, formerly of Whiteford, because of reports that he had been displaying suicidal behavior, police said. Two officers shot the 53-year-old man thinking he had a gun.

On March 27, Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey informed the Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which investigates all police-involved incidents that result in the injury or death of civilians, that, upon review of the evidence, she would not prosecute Harford County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Bradford Sives and Cpl. Christopher Maddox, the officers involved in Fauver’s death.

After the report’s release, the attorney representing Fauver’s family said he would file a civil suit against Sives, the officer who shot and killed Fauver, as well as the Harford County Sheriff ’s Office. Cary Hansel, a Baltimore-based attorney, said the suit would be filed after a review of evidence requested through the Public Information Act that was held until the release of the Independent Investigations Division’s report.

“It’s clear to us … this was an unconstitutional shooting,” said Hansel, who expects his review of evidence to take about a month.

According to the report, body camera footage of the standoff with Harford County Sheriff ’s Office deputies showed Maddox yelling that Fauver was reaching for a gun.

At the same time Maddox was yelling that Fauver had a gun, Sives yelled, “It’s a cane, it’s a cane, it’s a cane, it’s a cane,” according to the report. Sives could not be heard on Maddox’s body camera footage, and vice versa, the report states, suggesting the possibility the two deputies could not hear each other, as they were yards apart.

The body camera footage of two other deputies on the scene revealed they too yelled, “It’s not a gun,” several times.

Maddox fired his handgun in the direction of Fauver and followed with three more rounds in rapid succession, according to the report. During the second round, Sives fired his shotgun at Fauver, appearing to strike him. This came four to five seconds after Sives first yelled, “It’s a cane,” according to the report.

The Independent Investigations Division does not possess the power to bring charges, prosecute officers or direct county state’s attorneys, which retain the sole power to prosecute.

Autopsy findings showed that only shots from Sives’ shotgun caused Fauver’s death, according to the report.

“People in mental health crisis are the victims of up to half of all police shooting deaths,” Hansel said. “Our public servants must be held to a higher standard.

“Until police culture is changed, there will continue to be unnecessary civilian death.”