The two South Bend police officers involved in the recent fatal shooting of a homeless man remain on paid leave pending an internal affairs review.
That means Scott Ruszkowski isn’t publicly judging their conduct as OK yet, but he came close on Thursday.
After St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter Thursday said officers Joseph Carey and Randy McMurray were legally justified in fatally shooting 70-year-old John Neiswender June 11, Ruszkowski held a press conference to describe the officers’ conduct in more detail.
Carey, who fired six shots at Neiswender from 15 feet, hitting him three times, is a 13-year veteran. McMurray, with 10 years on the force, is a crisis intervention training officer, meaning he has undergone extra training on how to de-escalate incidents with people suffering from mental illness and avoid violent confrontations.
The officers’ body cam footage shows Neiswender walking toward the officers with a knife, threatening to kill them, and refusing their commands to drop the knife and lie down on the ground. This came after McMurray had tased him three times, to no effect because Neiswender was wearing six layers of clothing under a heavy coat.
Carey then opens fire.
Ruszkowski said McMurray is the department’s most knowledgeable officer on crisis intervention. A reporter asked whether the officers’ conduct in the incident was textbook correct.
"We have a Use of Force Review Committee, we have firearms experts, we have taser experts and instructors," Ruszkowski said. "There's at least six or seven different layers, then we have
Command Staff every Tuesday, including Internal Affairs. Presentations will be made. Command Staff will weigh in on it, and then ultimately all of that is processed with and to me, and then I will make a decision of the reasonableness that was involved."
