Prosecutors finish investigating fatal shooting by Pierce County sheriff’s deputies
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies were justified in fatally shooting a man when they responded to a domestic violence call last year, the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office has decided.
Deputies shot Robert Smith Jr. on Oct. 20, 2018, when they arrived at the home and he drew a gun, despite the deputies’ commands to keep his hands away from the weapon.
The Sheriff’s Department, Medical Examiner’s Officer and prosecutors each investigated.
A letter Tuesday from the Prosecutor’s Office to Sheriff Paul Pastor said prosecutors had reviewed the three investigations and found the shooting justified and lawful.
Deputies Nathan Coggin, Inga Hess and Evangeleen Dech fired their weapons. Coggin was hired in 2018, Hess was hired in 1997, and Dech was hired in 2017.
The letter gave this account of what happened:
Smith’s girlfriend called 911 and said that he assaulted her, had a gun, was drunk, and had burned something he was cooking and filled the home with smoke.
Deputies responded to the Spanaway duplex and saw that Smith had a gun in a holster on his hip.
“Mr. Smith continued to not comply with the deputies’ commands, and he stood still without verbally responding,” the letter said. “Mr. Smith then slowly and deliberately reached for the gun in the holster on his hip. All three deputies pulled their firearms and repeated their commands not to touch the gun. Mr. Smith continued his action, and he put his hand on his gun and pulled the gun from his holster.”
That’s when the three deputies fired 13 shots.
Smith was hit once in the chest and once in the thigh. He was taken to the hospital, where he died the next morning.
One test showed his blood-alcohol level was .243 about an hour after the shooting. The legal limit to operate a motor vehicle is .08.
His gun had 11 rounds, investigators found, including one in the chamber.
The shooting happened before the state’s new “good faith” standard took effect, but prosecutors noted in the letter to Pastor that the shooting would have been justified under the new law.
