Investigation into Port Orchard overpass shooting still underway
A month after a 36-year-old man was shot to death by a Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputy on a Highway 16 overpass near Port Orchard, there has been no resolution to the case.
The man, identified at David J. Pruitte, 36, was killed Aug. 4 after two sheriff’s deputies responded to several 911 calls describing a man sitting and dangling his legs over the edge of Bethel-Burley Road overpass at Highway 16.
A deputy, Andrew Hren, has been placed on administrative leave according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s office.
The case is being investigated by the Kitsap Critical Response Team, with the Bremerton Police Department as the lead agency. The team has not made any determination or conclusion about the incident, said Bremerton Police Lt. Aaron Elton.
Details unclear
It is not clear what prompted the shooting. Descriptions by police have been vague, saying only that “shots were fired” after Pruitte was contacted by the deputies on the bridge. Investigators said Pruitte was unarmed.
“A second deputy who was on scene with Hren is cooperating with the ongoing investigation,” a press release by KCIRT says.
Deputy Hren’s firearm has been sent to the Washington State Patrol for ballistic analysis.
Immediately after shots were fired, deputies rendered aid to Pruitte, investigators said.
“Medical aid was summoned to the scene and Pruitte was transported to a Tacoma hospital where he was pronounced deceased,” The press release said. “KCIRT continues to investigate this shooting to determine what transpired during the incident.”
Earlier shootings
According to the Associated Press, Deputy Hren was also involved in a July 9, 2017 fatal shooting of Robert D. Yeiser, 34. Yeiser was on board a boat at Eagle Harbor when he began randomly shooting at homes, firing off up to 200 rounds. When police approached the boat, Yeiser pointed his gun at police, who shot and killed him.
Hren was also one of two officers who responded to an incident in Sept. 2017 that resulted in the non-fatal shooting of Jordan J. Kahn after a lengthy standoff with police from his home in Bremerton, according to the AP.
Bremerton Police Lt. Elton said the investigation into the overpass shooting is ongoing.
“There are no new details to release today,” the Sept. 10 press release said. “Analysis of information, and evidence is ongoing. Preparation for follow-up interviews is in progress.”
Second case
The case is the second death involving use of force by Kitsap County deputies in recent months.
The KCIRT is also investigating the death of Sean Michael Howell, 28, a Bremerton man who died during a struggle with deputies at the Kitsap County Jail in Port Orchard on May 15. The Washington State Patrol is the lead agency in that investigation.
Howell had been arrested in the death of his 23-year-old girlfriend and was considered a suicide risk. After he was observed trying to reach a ceiling-mounted sprinkler head, deputies intervened, according to a release for the sheriff’s office. When four deputies tried to move Howell to a different cell, he became combative and was restrained.
An autopsy was conducted by the county’s forensic pathologist, and the coroner issued a determination that the cause of death was “restraint asphyxia.” The coroner ruled the manner of death has been a homicide.
“This is an independent investigation and therefore I have been provided few details of the incident,” said Sheriff Gary Simpson on Friday. “The coroner’s report is comprehensive and complex. It needs to be reviewed in the totality of the facts and circumstances. The investigation is not yet complete,”
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 10:51 AM.