After an investigation by Mishawaka and St. Joseph County police, Prosecutor Ken Cotter Thursday announced that South Bend police officers were justified in fatally shooting a man Tuesday at Karl King Tower Apartments.
Cotter said under Indiana law, the four South Bend officers were justified in using deadly force against 55-year-old Christopher Chester. Witnesses had told them Chester had been violent with two women that night, stabbing a woman in her 20s in the hand, and holding a knife to the throat of another woman in her apartment. He had been in a relationship with that woman, who’s in her 70s, but she managed to safely lock herself in the bathroom.
Cotter said police negotiated with the man for about an hour before getting a search warrant. As they then prepared to enter with a set of keys, an officer’s body cam video shows Chester exiting the apartment and charging the officers with a hammer.
That’s when four officers hit Chester with a total of eight bullets. Three in the arms and five in the general body area.
Cotter said an officer hit him with non-lethal pepper balls but the video shows that didn’t phase him. He said another officer tried to use his taser but it malfunctioned.
A reporter asked Cotter whether this was an appropriate situation for a taser.
”From Ken Cotter’s standpoint, somebody’s coming at me with a hammer, I’m not sure I’m going to hope that a taser works, not the way he was coming out and not based on all of the facts they had prior to that confrontation.
"Based on all of those facts that those officers had, it is clear that their actions were justified. And it's unfortunate that those officers had to do that. Frankly watching their interviews and how broke up they were that they had to do that, was heart-wrenching from my standpoint. ”
Cotter said Chester was not from this area but had been staying in the woman's apartment with her for about three months. He said police interviewed his mother, who said she had been concerned about his mental health, but he also noted that he had no diagnosed mental illnesses and she hadn't talked with him for 16 years.
Cotter said toxicology results from Chester's autopsy were still pending. A reporter asked him whether Chester appeared to be intoxicated.
"Listening to the hour of attempted negotiations, he was not in the mind that you and I would be in."
In officer-involved shootings, it's up to Cotter as the prosecutor to determine whether the officers acted within the law. Next, South Bend police will review whether they followed all department policies for use of deadly force.
But Cotter said their actions before and after the shooting deserve praise.
"They pick him up and carry him downstairs where an ambulance had been staged to try to save him. They're talking to each other. How can we help this guy? To go from this guy is trying to seriously injure me or kill me, to I'm going to try to save you, was very impressive. We have good law enforcement officers in our community. There are some that we have to work with, but I got to tell you, for the vast majority, the officers who were involved here, I thought did a very good job."
A South Bend police spokeswoman said six officers were placed on leave. Four can return when they feel ready while two officers who fired weapons will remain on leave as the South Bend officer disciplinary process plays out.
