Officer detained after investigations reveal discrepancies in Police-Station shooting incident By Michelle Sutherland Police have detained for questioning one of their own after investigations into the shooting of an alleged attempted escapee revealed discrepancies between the detained officer’s account of the events and investigators’ findings.
During a Monday, March 22, interview with the media, the Head of the National Crimes Investigation Branch Senior Superintendent Hilberto Romero—when pressed by journalists as to the reason for the officer’s detention and “pending charges”, explained, “He [the detained officer] gave us a version of the events and we saw contrary to that after the investigation.”
Romero was speaking in regards to the Saturday, March 20th, shooting of Ryan Foster, 26, who reportedly tried to escape police custody and was subsequently shot outside the Racoon Street Police Station (“the Station”) by the officer in question.
While Romero did not elaborate on the details of their findings, he did signal that “the investigation is showing that the use of force was excessive.” According to Romero, Foster suffered a gunshot injury to the neck area and was hospitalized in a stable condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH). Thereafter, he was returned to police custody.
Reports are that Foster, who was detained in relation to a theft incident, was taken outside of the Station to wash his hands as per normal procedure; however, the prisoner reportedly sought to use the moment to attempt his escape.
It is reported that the now detained officer pursued him and, in the process, fired a single shot at Foster. Romero explained that only one police officer was guarding Foster at the time of his attempted escape and that he had not been handcuffed. One nine millimeter expended shell was retrieved from outside the police station. Additionally, investigators are using surveillance cameras outside the police station to aid them in their investigation.