Former NC cop won’t be charged for shooting death of unarmed man inside police SUV
A former Concord police officer who shot a potential car thief four times in February, called in the incident to his department, then opened fire again, will not face criminal charges, Cabarrus County’s top prosecutor has announced.
District Attorney Roxann Vaneekhoven said in a Wednesday statement that Officer Timothy Larson was legally justified when he fatally shot unarmed Brandon Combs at a Concord auto dealership on Feb. 13.
“After a thorough review of the facts of this case, and the law that would apply to these facts, the evidence showed that Officer Timothy Larson did not utilize excessive force when he fired his weapon at a fully revved police SUV that was pointed at him a few feet way, that Brandon Combs was attempting to steal,” Vaneekhoven wrote.
Combs, 29, of Gastonia, was struck five times while he sat behind the wheel of Larson’s SUV. Combs had jumped into the vehicle after Larson had discovered him trying to steal a nearby pickup truck.
According to attorneys for Combs’ mother who have seen video of the incident, Larson first fired five shots through the windshield at Combs, mortally wounding him.
The officer called in the shooting before firing another shot, the attorneys say.
On Wednesday, they pushed back on Vaneekhoven’s decision.
“Of course we’re disappointed. But we’re not surprised,” the attorneys said in a statement to the Charlotte Observer.
“It’s clear that District Attorney Vaneekhoven doesn’t care about the facts. She doesn’t care that Officer Larson shot Brandon Combs four times, paused to call it in, and then shot him again just to make sure he was dead. ... She doesn’t care that Brandon was unarmed or the fact that body camera video shows that Larson was never in the path of the vehicle which means, according to the law, he was in no danger. She doesn’t even care that Officer Larson lied to the agents investigating this shooting.
“District Attorney Vaneekhoven thinks that kind of brutality, disregard for human life and contempt for the rule of law is just fine if you wear a badge.”
According to documents received from a public records request by The Observer to the City of Concord, Larson was fired May 20. He had been on the job for about two years when the shooting occurred.
In Larson’s termination letter, police Chief Gary Gacek cited his former officer for insubordination for refusing to answer questions following the shooting and for giving misleading or untrue answers in other instances to his superiors and the State Bureau of Investigation, which handled the shooting investigation. It’s unclear from the letter if the events surrounding the shooting were discussed.
In a statement Wednesday night, Gacek said he respected the SBI investigation the DA’s decision while “we continue to extend our deepest condolences” to Combs’ family.”
“Police officers have a difficult job and ensuring they have the trust of the community is one of the most important ones,” he said. “We’ll continue to work each day to serve and protect our community in every way possible.”
In explaining her decision not to charge Larson, Vaneekhoven cited several factors:
▪ That Combs ignored more than a dozen commands from Larson to either get out of the pickup truck, stop moving or show his hands.
▪ That there was a police assault rifle in the SUV within Combs’ reach.
▪ That Combs had revved Larson’s vehicle just before the officer opened fire, fearing he might be run over.
Larson, the prosecutor concluded, was in “imminent danger of death.”
“Officer Larson, knowing that his police SUV was equipped with an AR-15 assault rifle within reach of Combs, attempted to stop Combs by running to the front of the vehicle. Officer Larson immediately heard Combs rev the police SUV engine and feared that Combs was going to run him over. In response, Officer Larson fired into the vehicle in an effort to stop the threat,” Vaneekhoven wrote.
A June lawsuit filed by Combs’ mother challenges the final point. It alleges that Larson opened fire while not being in the direct path of the SUV, mitigating the threat the vehicle posed.
Also, when asked on the video why he had shot Combs, Larson replied that Combs was trying to steal his SUV and did not mention concerns for his own safety, the lawsuit claims.
In reporting the incident, Concord police initially said the shooting had occurred following a “physical confrontation” at the Nissan dealership.
The attorneys for the family said Larson’s own video shows that no such confrontation occurred.
“Police officers cannot be judge, jury and executioner. That’s why we have a criminal justice system. That’s why we have the rule of law,” Atlanta attorney Harry Daniels said during a news conference in Charlotte that followed the filing of the federal complaint.
The lawsuit by Combs’ mother accuses Larson and the City of Concord of excessive force, assault and battery, wrongful and intentional death and gross negligence.
In North Carolina and every other state, police officers are justified in using deadly force if they have a reasonable belief that they, their fellow officers or the public are in imminent risk of death or serious injury.
The law is written around a landmark Supreme Court case, Graham v. Connor, which originated in Charlotte.
Every year, police fatally shoot about 1,000 people, a number that has remained largely unchanged despite widespread police reforms following the deaths of George Floyd and others, according to the Washington Post, which has tracked officer shootings for the past five years.
Criminal prosecutions and convictions of officers are rare. Critics say the existing laws are too broad to hold police accountable.
On the other hand, the courts have ruled that police be given adequate leeway on the use of deadly force given the quickly escalating situations they face and the life-and-death decisions they must make.
New details released
Vaneekhoven received the findings of the SBI probe in June. Her statement on Wednesday contains previously unreported details from the shooting.
The entire encounter lasted 90 seconds, she said.
Combs, she said, had been released from jail 36 hours earlier and had a pending felony warrant issued against him in another state.
When Larson came upon Combs on Feb. 13 in the car lot, he was sitting in a pickup, having broken into the dealership to steal several vehicle keys.
As the officer approached, Combs stuck his head out the open door and spoke.
“Hey ... Take your gun off. Take your gun off,” he said, according to Vaneekhoven’s statement.
“What are you ... what’s going on?” the seemingly confused Larson replied.
Combs closed the door. Eventually Larson pulled his gun and told Combs not to move and ordered him out of the truck. Combs refused, and Larson called his department for backup, the statement says.
In all, according to Vaneekhoven, Larson gave Combs 15 verbal commands to either stop moving, show his hands or get out of the truck. Combs complied with none of them, the prosecutor says.
Eventually, Combs fled the truck through the passenger side, then ran around the front of Larson’s idling SUV and climbed behind the wheel.
Larson gave chase. He was standing 5 to 10 feet from the SUV toward the passenger side front tire when he said he saw Combs look down towards the release button of the assault rifle. Seconds later, he said he heard the engine rev, according to the DA’s statement.
“Fearing for his life Larson fired 5 rapid succession shots through the front windshield,” Vaneekhoven wrote. “Larson called in ‘shots fired, shots fired,’ then quickly fired one more shot.”
Under the Concord Police Department’s use of force policy, officers are banned from shooting into vehicles unless they or others are being targeted by “deadly physical force” other than a vehicle, or “the moving vehicle poses an imminent and ongoing threat of substantial physical harm to the officer or another person from which there is no reasonable means to escape.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1985 case of Tennessee v. Garner that officers cannot use deadly force to stop a fleeing suspect unless they are placed in imminent danger.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 4:41 PM.
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