Fatal police shooting of bipolar man deemed appropriate
Three Sunnyvale police officers who shot and killed a mentally ill man armed with a knife two years ago were justified in their use of lethal force, the Santa Clara County district attorney has found.
A report released Thursday by the district attorney’s office said the officers responding to an alleged sexual assault Nov. 12, 2015, feared imminent danger and acted to protect themselves when approached by Moises Nerio, 42, a 300-pound man.
“Mr. Nerio left the officers with no choice,” the report concluded.
The officers were called to Nerio’s apartment on Anaya Street shortly before noon by a a family member who reported that Nerio had forced open her bedroom door and sexually assaulted her, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.
Before Officers Barron Renzi and Sean Mula and Lt. Daniel Pistor approached the apartment, the door of which was open, they had been told by a police dispatcher that Nerio was bipolar, had been drinking and may have been doing drugs, according to the district attorney’s office.
Officers asked Nerio to come outside, but instead he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade, the report said.
On an audio recording released by the district attorney, a man — identified as Mula — can be heard trying to coax Nerio out of the apartment, asking, “Hey buddy, can you come out here for me?”
Nerio flatly answers “No” to multiple pleas from officers to leave the apartment, and their tone quickly becomes more firm.
Nerio eventually advanced toward Mula and, when he was about 8 feet away, he made a jerking motion with his hand and all three officers opened fire, the report said. It was 12:18 p.m. In total, 12 shots were fired.
Mula “believed Mr. Nerio could kill him based on Mr. Nerio’s size,” according to the report.
Nerio was taken to Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. His blood-alcohol level was just under 0.43 percent, within the danger zone for alcohol poisoning and five times the legal limit for driving, according to the district attorney’s office.