OUT ON BOND
Officer has first court appearance in deadly shooting
Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Keith Patrick Sweeney bonded out of jail Wednesday, a day after being arrested and charged in a deadly on-duty shooting of an unarmed, suicidal man.
Oklahoma County District Judge Bill Graves set Sweeney’s bond at $75,000 after a brief hearing Wednesday afternoon. The judge could have denied bond.
The judge said Sweeney is “entitled to bond” and considered innocent until a jury determines otherwise.
“That was the goal,” defense attorney Gary James told news reporters after the hearing.
“I’m just ecstatic today that Judge Graves has released him, found that he is not a flight risk. He is a person who is going to get his day in court.”
Sweeney, 32, attended the hearing wearing an orange jail uniform and shackles after spending the night in jail. He was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder, accused of unjustly shooting Dustin Pigeon, 29, early Nov. 15 after the victim called 911 threatening suicide.
“A man who called for help was killed by a police officer, in this case, defendant Sweeney. And I don’t take that lightly,” District Attorney David Prater said Wednesday.
Prater said he was satisfied with the judge’s decision to place conditions on Sweeney’s release.
“I think to the extent that the judge could, he assured us that Mr. Sweeney is not a public safety risk and that he is likely to appear in court every time he is ordered to do so,” Prater told reporters. “I was not going to agree to a bond because this is a very significant case.”
The judge ordered Sweeney to wear a passive GPS monitor on his ankle. The device doesn’t monitor in real time but authorities can view Sweeney’s whereabouts if needed.
Sweeney is not under house arrest. He is allowed to visit his gym, son’s school, synagogue, lawyer’s office, medical appointments and military activities. He is in the U.S. Navy Reserve, according to his attorney.
The judge also ordered Sweeney to surrender multiple handguns and rifles from his home.
Prosecutors allege the shooting was unreasonable and unjustified.
Officers responding to a call went to a housing complex in southwest Oklahoma City on Nov. 15 and found Pigeon holding a bottle of lighter fluid and a lighter, threatening to set himself on fire, police reported.
The first two responding officers approached Pigeon and attempted to de-escalate the situation, according to prosecutors. Sweeney, then approached Pigeon with his gun drawn, prosecutors said.
Immediately after one of the first officers struck Pigeon in the hip with one round from a bean bag shotgun, Sweeney shot the victim five times with his 9 mm pistol, according to prosecutors. The victim died at the scene, police reported.
An investigation revealed Pigeon was unarmed and “not a threat to the officers when he was shot by Sgt. Sweeney,” a police investigator wrote in a court affidavit. Video from body cameras worn by the first two officers was released Tuesday. Sweeney was not wearing a bodycam.
Sweeney faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.
“This man is innocent of these charges,” Sweeney’s defense attorney said. “He believed that the man had a knife and until you’ve stood in a police officer’s shoes … no one knows what they would do.”
There was no knife found at the scene, according to prosecutors.
Sweeney, a nine-year veteran, has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting, police reported.
“The defendant denies the charges against him and maintains his innocence and believes there is very low likelihood of a conviction,” the defense attorney wrote in a court document requesting the bond hearing.
In the document, the defense attorney noted a Del City police officer charged with firstdegree manslaughter received a $10,000 bond and a Tulsa police officer charged with first-degree manslaughter received a $50,000 bond.
The judge said he had planned to set Sweeney’s bond higher than $75,000 before learning about the bonds set in the other onduty shooting cases.
Sweeney’s defense attorney said “various members of the community” helped post the bond. The defendant’s wife, other family, church members and Navy personnel attended the hearing.
Sweeney is charged “in the alternative” with first-degree manslaughter, which has a minimum punishment of four years in prison. At trial, a jury could decide to convict Sweeney on either the murder offense or the manslaughter offense. The jury could also acquit him.