Stanislaus deputy charged in killing
A Stanislaus County sheriff ’s deputy was charged Monday in the fatal shooting of a woman attempting to evade officers after a low-speed chase that ended in neighboring San Joaquin County.
In a rare case of prosecuting a law enforcement officer for an on-duty shooting, the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office filed a single felony charge of voluntary manslaughter against Deputy Justin Wall for the February 2017 death of Evin Olsen Yadegar, 46, of Modesto.
“No one is above the law,” District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said in a statement. “When individuals we entrust to uphold the law engage in acts that result in the death of others, it is our
duty to investigate those cases thoroughly, fairly and with due regard for the rule of law our office — and our partners in law enforcement — are sworn to uphold.”
Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson placed Wall on administrative leave. He referred to the shooting as “a tragic event” in a statement but declined further comment.
The shooting occurred after Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies were sent to a Hampton Inn in Salida, near Modesto, to investigate a battery report. Yadegar, the suspect, was found driving away in her Volkswagen sedan.
When a deputy tried to pull her over, she kept driving, leading him and eventually other law enforcement officers on a slow pursuit through residential streets into nearby Ripon. Wall was among the pursuing officers.
Dash camera video from one of the patrol car shows Yadegar stopping on Main Street and a sheriff’s vehicle pulling in front of her car. Five officers, including Wall, approach the car, which slowly backs up, then drives forward. A deputy identified as Wall can be seen firing four shots from a couple of feet away. None of the other officers fired their weapons.
The car turns a corner, slows and crashes into the wall of house. Yadegar was treated at the scene and taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead from a single bullet wound.
After investigations by the Ripon Police Department, San Joaquin County district attorney and coroner, and the state Department of Justice, Verber Salazar authorized the filing of charges.