Council Bluffs police justified in shooting at Omaha murder suspect, attorney general says
Council Bluffs police were justified in shooting and killing a murder suspect after a July 8 car chase that went from Omaha, Nebraska, to Iowa, the Iowa Attorney General's Office has ruled, concurring with the Pottawatomie County Attorney's Office.
According to police in Omaha, the chase began after they received a report of a carjacking in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue and determined that the man who stole the car matched the description of Matthew Briggs, 42. They were seeking Briggs in the shooting death earlier that day of Steven Donsbach, 52, as well as in a break-in and assault on a woman and a shot fired at a neighbor of a nearby house where he drove his car through the garage door.
An Omaha police helicopter spotted the stolen car and police cruisers engaged in a 20-minute pursuit through unusually heavy traffic, joined by Council Bluffs police as Briggs drove across a Missouri River bridge into that city, according to an Attorney General's Office report. It said the officers followed Briggs into Mills County before he doubled back to Pottawatomie County and Council Bluffs, managing to avoid a tire deflation strip officers had rolled out in an effort to stop him.
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At the head of the line of police vehicles pursuing Briggs was Council Bluffs police Officer Mark Archibald, followed by Lt. Chad Geer, the Council Bluffs shift commander, who joined the chase because other officers were busy with two fatal accidents, the report said. Following an order by radio from Geer, Archibald used his vehicle to strike the car driven by Briggs, forcing it to spin. Geer then rammed his vehicle into the passenger side of the car, pinning it against a stop sign, the report said.
Officer says suspect pointed shotgun at him
It said Geer told investigators he saw Briggs in the stopped car, pointing a shotgun directly at him. He said he then fired his gun at Briggs, who witnesses said appeared to be racking the shotgun to load a round. Geer told investigators he thought Briggs already had fired at him and was reloading.
Geer continued to fire until his gun's 17-round magazine was empty, the report said. It said that unseen by Geer, Omaha police Lt. Martin Stiles also had arrived at the scene. Stiles told investigators he saw Briggs looking directly at him and that he yelled at Briggs "something about showing hands." Stiles said he saw Briggs reach across, facing the passenger window, and opened fire on Briggs when he saw the butt of a shotgun coming up.
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He said he initially saw Briggs point the shotgun pointed at him, then at Geer, and continued to fire. Police said the now-wounded Briggs slumped in his seat and was taken to a hospital, where he died. Two guns were found in the car he was driving, they said.
Geer, as a lieutenant, was not required to wear a bodycam and his vehicle did not have a dash cam, the report said.
Shooting 'entirely legally justified'
The report concluded that the officers involved in the chase and shooting "were entirely legally justified" in their actions. Briggs, it said, was an armed suspect in a slaying who was endangering both the officers and the public with his flight from police, and that police had made numerous attempts "to end the situation peacefully."
"Even after being in a position where he clearly could not escape, Briggs pointed a gun directly at Council Bluffs Officer Geer which would have been in view of Officer Stiles from the Omaha Police Department," the report said. "Even under these circumstance Briggs failed to comply with the officers and instead continued the threat by refusing to disarm himself, attempted to point a firearm at an officer, and refused to end the confrontation created by him peacefully. Legal justification is clear under these facts."
The report said there would be no criminal charges against the officers.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Attorney General: Council Bluffs police officer justified in shooting at Omaha murder suspect
