Report: 'Excessive' shots fired in fatal police shooting
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A report on a deadly 2017 deputy-involved shooting says Sacramento County sheriff's deputies fired an excessive and unnecessary number of rounds.
Three deputies fired 28 bullets, hitting 32-yearold Mikel Mcintyre seven times. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
The number of shots was "excessive, unnecessary, and put the community at risk," says the report released this week by Sacramento County Inspector General Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief. He recommended that deputies receive more training on when to turn to less deadly options against suspects like Mcintyre, who was running away from officers when he was killed.
He was shot after he initially struck two deputies and a police dog with rocks following erratic confrontations with his mother and other family members, authorities said.
While at times Mcintyre was "an imminent threat to deputies," the danger eased as he fled across a major highway in south Sacramento, the report says. Even had he grabbed another rock, he was so far away that deputies had time to consider less-lethal options, the report says.
Mcintyre's family sued in June. Family attorney John Burris told The Sacramento Bee that the two deputies who shot at Mcintire along the highway should face criminal charges.
"It's arguable whether you can use deadly force if someone threw a rock at you. There's no debate about the issue of using deadly force when he's clearly running away," Burris said.