[Updates below.]
I think it is too early to tell, but when it appears that a cop shoots you twice in the back as you run away, that conclusion seems hard to avoid. Even if Mr. Brown had a gun (the allegation that lead APD Sergeant Michael Olsen to ask him questions and one I've seen little substantive proof for) and given the fact that he ran from the cops, that still doesn't seem to jive with the usual "imminent danger to life and limb" that deadly force legally needs before it can be employed.
I drive near Chester's nightclub every day and at night on the weekends it can get fairly boisterous. Not a good place to bring a gun of your own.
UPDATED 8/10/2007 1:08pm
News8Austin: Officer cleared in Brown shooting
A Travis County grand jury no-billed an Austin police officer who shot and killed a man outside an East Austin nightclub on June 3.
Sgt. Michael Olsen won't be held criminally responsible for the death of 25-year-old Kevin Brown.
The grand jury had to decide whether his use of force was a reasonable act of self-defense. They heard 10 days of evidence and testimony from 12 witnesses, including seven civilians, four expert or law enforcement witnesses and Olsen.
This was one of the cases I thought I might have had a chance to review as a
juror.
Brown was shot twice in the back during a chase with police. The incident happened at the Elm Ridge Apartments on East 12th Street, not far from Chester's, the club where the chase actually began.
Olsen had been investigating whether the 25-year-old had a gun.
Copyright ©2007TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin
This is the part that still gets me: twice in the back. Not exactly a "he's coming right for me!" scenario.
From the Austin-American Statesman: Officer not indicted in fatal shooting
According to his written statement released Thursday, Olsen told investigators hours after the shooting that he was "100 percent sure" Brown had a gun when he shot him during a foot chase. He said he decided to shoot when he saw Brown reach toward his waistband as if retrieving a weapon and that "I was confident I had a clear shot and a high probability of hitting the target."
Olsen said he fired several rounds, that Brown fell facedown and continued reaching around his waist.
"I still felt threatened by his actions and thought he was still trying to get the gun out," Olsen said. "I paused and hesitated, especially because he was facedown and on the ground, before making the decision to shoot several more rounds to ensure I ended the threat.
"I remember thinking that I really didn't want to shoot him again, but that I still felt he was trying to get a gun and was still a threat to my life," Olsen said in his statement.
This is new info for me. As you'll see below, we aren't talking about long distances here. Shot to the ground and then shot again?
Investigators questioned dozens of people about the incident, but none said they saw Olsen fire the shots. Police later recovered a gun in the courtyard, about 30 feet from Brown's body.
[...]
According to Olsen's statement, he had just finished a traffic stop on East 12th Street, almost directly in front of Chester's, when a club security guard flagged him down about 4 a.m. and told him that a patron had reported being threatened.
Olsen said the guard told him that the customer thought the man had a weapon. The security guard initially described a possible suspect, but later told Olsen that the first man had handed a gun to another patron, later identified as Brown.
Olsen said he walked toward Brown, who then "stepped back away from me. At that point, I had a distinct gut feeling something was wrong and the hair on the back of my neck stood up."
Olsen said he decided to go "hands on" and tried to grab Brown's hands. He said Brown stepped back, pushed him and started to run.
"Had I known I was just arresting him for drugs or something, I would have just wrapped him up and tackled him," Olsen said. "Because I thought he had a gun, I was more hesitant and was trying to keep an eye on his hands."
Olsen said Brown ran toward the back of the parking lot and that he radioed a description of Brown to other officers in the area. He said Brown plunged down a large drop-off and ran into an apartment complex courtyard.
Olsen said he yelled several times at Brown to stop and show his hands, but that Brown kept his hands in his waistband area.
"After a short distance, he slowed and turned slightly towards me, looking directly at me," Olsen said in the statement. "I don't remember exactly how far he turned his body towards me, but it was coming towards me, and his head was turned towards me, looking at me.
"He was clearly digging his hand into his waistband, and I feared he was trying to pull the gun on me. ... I feared for my life and made the decision to shoot him to defend myself from imminent attack."
According to the autopsy report, the bullets entered Brown's body midback on the right side, and travelled from the back of his body to the front, right to left, and down. The bullets entered on the right side and fractured three of Brown's left ribs.
You can look at the scene from
Google Maps. The
Statesman posted an image of their recreation of the event and I've resized it for this post::
So far, I haven't read anything about what Olsen's partner Ivan Ramos did after Step 6 in that diagram. Did he just stop running?
The district attorney's office Thursday released copies of hundreds of pages of witnesses' statements, diagrams and other documents in the case. The information provides a more specific accounting of what happened minutes before and after the shooting.
Copyright 2007 The Austin American-Statesman. All rights reserved.
I'd like to see this stuff posted on
Earle's DA website because I want to read the raw data, not filtered through a news agency.
Do I think, after knowing what I know now, that Michael Olsen murdered Kevin Brown? I haven't read anywhere that Olsen actually saw Brown in possession of a gun. He acted suspiciously and ran from the police, but that doesn't necessarily mean he had a firearm. I also haven't read anywhere (as of 1pm of today's update) that Brown's fingerprints were found on the.22 pistol dropped at the scene; fingerprints weren't even mentioned in any AAS articles. Seems very pertinent to me and no matter how coincidental it may be for a pistol to be laying around, this needs to be made clear. I also think Olsen could have closed the distance between him and Brown (at least as shown in the diagram) without firing "several" (another detail I've not seen explained: how many times did Olsen shoot?) times at Brown...who not only had an apartment building right behind him, but there were several windows through which Olsen's bullets could have easily gone.
The situation stinks (and it isn't the first time Olsen's been in use-of-force trouble), but I wouldn't rise to call it murder until something else pops up.
