Deputies who fatally shot felon outside Fife motel identified

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department has identified two deputies who fatally shot a man outside a Fife hotel after he tried to run over one of the deputies.

Jesse Hotz and Shaun Darby, both 43, were placed on paid administrative leave after the March 14 shooting death of Ryan Lapointe Rosa.

Hotz is a 16-year veteran of the department. Darby has been with the department for 18 years.

The deputies were part of a special investigations team that went to the motel looking for Rosa, a 36-year-old felon with a warrant for failing to appear at trial. Rosa was also wanted for questioning in several burglaries.

When the team pulled into the motel parking lot and spotted Rosa behind the wheel of a car, they boxed his vehicle in and ordered him out of the car.

He refused, and drove over a curb and grassy area before backing into a deputy’s unmarked patrol car.

Deputies pepper-sprayed Rosa in an attempt to stop him, but he pulled forward and hit one of the deputies, knocking him to the ground.

Hotz and Darby fired after Rosa again drove straight at them, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer has said.

Rosa died at the scene.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Deputies who fatally shot felon outside Fife motel identified."