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Man shot by officers in critical condition

A man shot by three deputies and a police officer in rural Ada County March 9 is in critical condition in a Utah hospital.

Published: March 20, 2013 at 11:00 p.m. PDT
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At least two of the four officers who shot a Kuna man March 9 were cleared in previous shootings.

All four officers - Ada County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Santucci, Deputies Morgan Case and Carl Olsen, and Boise Police Department officer Jason Green - have returned to duty following a mandatory leave after the incident, which is still under investigation.

Sheriff Gary Raney said on at least five prior occasions officers had interactions with the 41-year-old Kuna man, who is a veteran and "has battled mental health issues for most of his life."

He said Wednesday that officers had to use a police dog and a Taser on the man - who has not been identified publicly - after he was shot on a rural Ada County road before they could take him into custody.

According to a detailed account of the shooting released Wednesday, emergency dispatchers received a report at about 12:20 a.m. March 9 that a man had pointed a loaded gun at an adult male relative and threatened him at a home on the 13000 block of Madera Place in Kuna.

The suspect then fled in a borrowed truck. About two hours later he called 911 and said he was planning to harm himself and others.

Sheriff's deputies spotted the truck at about 3 a.m. parked on Cloverdale Road near Poen Road. Deputies said the suspect got out of the car and pointed a gun at himself. After about 15 minutes, during which Raney said deputies urged the suspect to put down his gun, he got into his truck and continued driving south on Cloverdale, which is a dead end.

The suspect then turned around and drove back toward deputies, hitting a spike strip a Meridian police officer had placed on the road. The disabled truck stopped on Cloverdale near Barker Road. The suspect got out and pointed his gun at officers, 30 to 40 feet away. All four officers fired, hitting the suspect four to six times in the hand, chest, leg and hip.

According to the sheriff's office account, after being shot, the suspect refused to comply with officers' commands, and a Boise police dog was used to try to take the man into custody. When the man continued to refuse to comply, the sheriff's office said, an officer used a Taser on the suspect.

The suspect did not fire his gun, Raney said.

Initial reports said that the man was expected to survive, but Raney said Wednesday the man was moved to a Utah hospital last week for additional treatment and described the man's condition as "very critical" and "more hour-to-hour than day-to-day."

Raney said the Ada County Critical Incident Task Force is conducting the investigation into the shooting.

In 2007, Santucci was one of two deputies who shot and killed Sarah Stanfield near Fruitland; in 2006, Santucci shot and killed Jonathan DiPaola in Meridian.

Olsen was one of 10 officers who fatally shot Ross McAbee in Boise in 2002.

Reviews of those officer-involved shootings concluded that the officers' actions were justified.

Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428, Twitter: @CynthiaSewell

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